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Agreement on Galileo financing found at last
By Volker K. Thomalla
Will the developers of European satellite navigation system Galileo now be able to concentrate on their work? There was a new development in the history of the system which is supposed to one day defy the American GPS system and has been plagued by delays and political wrangles on 23 November, when the finance ministers of the Member States of the European Union finally reached agreement on the financing of the system. At the EU summit on 14 December the EU heads of state are expected to pass a resolution on the new financing arrangements as part of the EU budget for 2008.
Germany had initially voted against the financing proposals, but finally accepted the majority decision of the other EU states. The Federal Government would have preferred the project to be funded through the budget of the European Space Agency (ESA), as it was afraid it would be asked for a larger national contribution without adequate consideration of German industry. These fears were dispelled by the EU Commission when it redistributed the work packages. The new arrangements also stipulate that the prime contractor must give at least 40 percent of its workshare to small and medium-sized enterprises.
The missing Euro2.4 billion needed to build the system in space and on the ground will now come entirely from the EU budget in which, however, no resources have been earmarked up to now. Thanks to the rise in world market prices for agricultural products, the EU will apparently save some Euro1.6 billion on agricultural subsidies in 2007. This money will now go into the Galileo kitty. Another Euro800 million will be found from cuts in other research programmes. Researchers at Euratom are among the unlucky ones to have lost out in favour of Galileo.
The complete system will comprise 30 satellites, three of which will function as reserves. Due to the political and industrial wrangles, only a single test satellite has yet been launched. As a result, the system is now limping behind its original timescale by up to five years. The latest plan, according to which system testing will commence in 2008 and the system should be operationally ready by 2010, does not even have to be adhered to. Optimists are now working on the assumption that Galileo will be up and running in 2013 – assuming that no further obstacles rear their ugly heads.
From page 4 of FLUG REVUE 1/2008
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