Galileo, Europe's equivalent of the US global positioning system
satellite network, got the go-ahead yesterday after European
telecommunication ministers agreed to inject €450m (£277m) into the
project.
By 2008, the €3.6bn (£2.2bn) project will consist of 30 satellites
orbiting the earth, just as the US network of GPS satellites do at
present.
The €450m - together with €650m (£399m) already earmarked for the
project - will secure funding through to 2005, a spokesman at the
Council of Ministers said.
Ministers were divided on how to proceed with the project, which
will be the European Union's biggest joint infrastructure project
to date.
The UK was the least enthusiastic about the project. However, a UK
official said yesterday that his country was satisfied with a
compromise that would exclude private companies until after a
tendering offer to find a private operator for the system had been
put into place. This is expected to happen by the end of next
year.
"This ensures the integrity of the tendering process. It avoids a
potential problem of conflicts of interest," The official
said.
Unlike the US GPS, Galileo will be a purely civilian satellite
network, serving transport networks such as airlines and shipping
companies, as well as emergency services such as search and rescue
teams. Potential private investors in Galileo are likely to include
aerospace firms, the spokesman at the council said.
The US has tried to discourage the EU from developing Galileo,
arguing that it was unnecessary, and that it might complicate
matters in space if the two systems are not compatible.
But Loyola de Palacio, commissioner for transport, said the EU
would continue its "best co-operation" with US officials to ensure
Galileo and GPS are compatible and complementary.
The recent cooling of relations between the US and the EU has been
cited as one reason why the Europeans are now rallying around
Galileo. European politicians at a summit of EU heads of state in
Barcelona last week warned that Europe risked "vassal" status to US
technology in space.
Galileo "permits the EU to shake off dependence" on the US GPS,
French transport minister Jean-Claude Gayssot said after the vote
on Tuesday.