European Union (EU) Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot has acted to shore up the future of the EU global positioning satellite network Galileo, which has been designed to offer hauliers reliable high-tech navigation services from 2010. In a report to the EU Council of Ministers, Barrot highlights squabbles over allocation of work among the consortium chosen to build Galileo's network. And he voices "concern" over "the status of concession negotiations".
The Galileo consortium includes
TeleOp (Germany), EADS Astrium (France/Germany), Inmarsat (UK), Thales (France), Aena (Spain), Finmeccanica (Italy), Hispasat (Spain) and Alcatel-Lucent (France). To reassure private investors, the commissioner is now pushing EU institutions for an early commitment for public EU funding of Galileo up to 2021.
The EU ministers have now called for "substantial progress" in talks "so by June [there is] adequate assurance that the concession negotiations are going ahead successfully". Meanwhile, the Council has asked the Commission to swiftly submit "possible solutions for securing Galileo's long-term financial obligations".
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