Aerospace industry puts pressure on Transport Council for Galileo decision
The failure of the EU's transport ministers to agree on financing of Galileo, Europe's satellite navigation system, could have serious political and economic consequences, according to the European association of aerospace Industries (AECMA) and the Association of European space industry (Eurospace). At the Transport Council on 7 December, six Member State ministers requested another three months to decide whether or not to approve the 450 million euro needed as start-up funding for the project. This was met with disappointment by Europe's aerospace industry, especially as the European Space Agency (ESA) ministers approved financial support in November. 'This further delay in the decision making process creates a strong shortfall to the European aerospace industry. Indeed, the successive high level political decisions endorsed by European Councils has led the industry to build significant confidence in a full launch of the programme before 2002,' states a joint release by AECMA and Eurospace. The two organisations claim that the Galileo programme is 'vital for European independence in transport management as well as in telecommunications, security and a wise range of applications that will otherwise still depend on GPS [global positioning system].' AECMA and Eurospace also claim that a delay to the programme will have a negative impact on employment in 100 companies throughout Europe, which are all committed to ensure that the system is optimised in terms of cost and performance for a delivery as planned in 2008. The delay will also affect confidence of future investors, state the two organisations, as well as the provisional frequency allocations granted to the satellite system. 'Further delay may severely impair the present economic rationale for the system. A clear decision to proceed is urgently required,' states the joint release.