De Palacio calls for swift Member State action on Galileo project
Following the European Summit in Laeken, Belgium, Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio has called for a rapid Member State decision on Europe's satellite navigation project, Galileo, to avoid further delays which could compromise the initiative. Speaking about the results of the Laeken Council, Commissioner de Palacio today expressed disappointment at the continuing delay on a decision on funding for Galileo. 'Each new delay puts the profitability of the project in danger,' said Ms de Palacio. 'According to all the studies carried out over several years, Galileo's main benefit is deployment from 2008 - we can no longer put off decisions on financing.' 'We will see in the coming weeks if the Laeken conclusions underlining the strategic importance of Galileo will allow a definitive political decision to be taken at last,' she added. Commissioner de Palacio said that if a decision is not taken in the next few weeks, the whole credibility of the project will be thrown into doubt. This includes the space industry, which has already mobilised large amounts of funding and is awaiting a decision to continue its work, as well as third countries such as the USA, Russia, China, and Canada, with whom cooperation talks have begun, and the world telecommunications organisation for the maintenance of the frequencies required by Galileo. Ms de Palacio also said that further delay must be avoided if the 2008 starting point for Galileo operations, set out in the PricewaterhouseCoopers report, is to be attained. At the Laeken Council, EU leaders reaffirmed the strategic importance of the Galileo project and welcomed the decision of the European space agency (ESA) to provide 550 million euro for the project. They called for the Transport Council to reach a decision on Community funding for Galileo's development phase by March 2002.