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EU Hails Inauguration of Its Satellite Navigation System
The European Union (EU) hailed the inauguration of its satellite navigation system on Friday after member states pledged as the first tranche of funding 100 million euros (US$90 million).
"It was the very first step and it was really not easy," said an official from the union's executive body, the European Commission.
The 15-nation bloc hoped that the satellite navigation system, known as the Galileo project, will be able to rival the existing American system of Global Positioning System.
The EU fund will be joined by a similar amount coming from the European Space Agency in the start-up of the ambitious project estimated to cost 3.25 billion euros (US$2.9 billion). Half of the total cost is expected to come from private investors.
"We have made a good decision to press ahead with what is one of Europe's biggest-ever technological projects," EU Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio told a news conference.
The decision to release the money came after hours of debate among transport ministers of the 15 EU countries who met on late Thursday in Luxembourg. Some countries feared that the cost could spiral out of control and national coffers would have to make up for a possible shortfall.
Britain, Germany and the Netherlands insisted that ministers make a formal agreement to set a ceiling on total public spending at their next meeting in December.
France, Italy, Spain and Belgium argued that private investors would only help foot the bill if government funds were seen as unequivocal. But these countries also agreed to define a total public spending budget by the end of the year.
The EU will soon launch a public tendering process that will hopefully result in a firm funding commitment of private investors to the Galileo project.
A group of European firms have already pledged 200 million euros (US$180 million) as an initial commitment to the project in a letter to the European Commission last month.
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