EU discusses satellite navigation project

Jeff Mason

The countries of the European Union have argued about a long-delayed project that is considered a competitor to the US global positioning system (GPS system), to recover the project. billions of euros before the deadline at the end of 2007.

The Galileo positioning system was designed with 30 satellites, having endured the years of being wriggled by questions about its feasibility and price despite the European Community convinced that it would Creating thousands of jobs and completely separate from the United States.

Transport ministers approved the plan for industrial development for this prestigious project, but the countries with poorer infrastructure had the opposite opinion.

If agreement cannot be reached, the general community will bring the issue into discussion on the agenda of the meeting of EU heads of state in December. The EU community also said that if by the end of this year the countries still not yet found a common voice, the project must be canceled.

EU budget ministers last week agreed to extract unused public funds, mainly farm subsidies, to cover the deficit of 2.4 billion euros despite opposition from Germany.

Germany has tacitly supported the EU Community's proposed contract reduction with key contractors. But some other European countries, including Spain and Italy, are still arguing about ground-based facilities.'There are still many different points,' German transport minister Tiefensee Wolfgang told reporters. 'But I'm sure until the end of the day, we'll find the answer.'

An EU official said that Spain insisted on owning a control center, while Italy also had a center like that that did not want Spain to receive support funds.

'This is not a problem between Italy and Spain' , according to an EU official on the last minute of controversy before the transport ministers meet. 'It's a small problem compared to the whole project . but it's also complicated.'

A Spanish official stated that Spain wanted to contribute more in this project.'We want to participate in the Galileo project more now'.

The crisis of the project happened earlier this year after the concessions of former contractor companies withdrew from the project due to political disagreement and reluctance to pay bills. These companies include EADS, Thales and Alcatel-Lucent (France), Inmarsat, Finmeccania (Italy), AENA and Hispasat (Spain) and a group of German companies including Deutsche Telekom.

Galileo supporters believe that this is an essential technological foundation for the European aerospace and communications industry. Meanwhile, critics have questioned whether the project could survive economically firmly before the superior position of the US GPS system and similar projects from Russia and China.