[11-28-07 – Satellite News] The Galileo satellite navigation program, one of the flagship programs of the European Commission, has been boosted by the news that European Union (EU) budget ministers have agreed a proposal to find another 2.4 billion euros ($3.6 billion) to secure the financing of the program going forward.
    The cost of the Galileo program between 2007 and 2013 is estimated at 3.4 billion euros ($5 billion), with the cost expected to be split between governments and a consortium of eight private companies charged with developing Galileo.
    In May, the Commission moved to fund Galileo completely through public funds after the consortium Galileo failed to agree on a funding plan.
    Most of the money has been taken from unspent funds — mostly from agriculture, Cristina Arigho, spokesperson for the budget of the European Commission confirmed to Satellite News. About 1.6 billion euros ($2.4 billion) will come from unspent funds from the agriculture budget. An additional 200 million euros ($296.9 million) will be used from a “flexibility instrument,” a kind of contingency fund the EU has in place for programs that run over budget. The contingency fund was not used in 2007, which means in theory a further 200 million euros could also have been made available if necessary. A further 400 million euros ($594.3 million) is being made available from transport-related research activities, and 200 million euros is being redeployed to Galileo coming from specific programs that are not linked to key policy areas.
    The redeployment of unspent money was “quite exceptional,” said Arigho, and demonstrates that “there was strong political support” for Galileo. The system is slated to be operational by 2012, with operations then turned over to a private company.
    "It has been clear all along that Galileo is an important program for European governments for a variety of political as well as technology development and control reasons, so it is not surprising that, when push comes to shove, they find ways to support it,” Andrea Maleter, technical director, Futron Corp said.
    Max Engel, a satellite analyst at Frost & Sullivan added, “Although there has always been talk about how Galileo was a money-making proposition, I have never seen how this would work. It is, therefore, no surprise that it will now be funded by the EU with no commercial help. To me, this shows that the whole commercial justification was an excuse to do this for reasons of European pride. It is reasonable that Europe does not want to depend on a U.S. military system but that doesn’t make it commercially viable,” he said.
    The European Parliament will vote on the overall budget Dec. 13, and a meeting of European transport ministers is set for Nov. 29 to try and reach an agreement on the industrial plans.
    “I expect most or all of the next year will be spent in the traditional sport of seeking advantage for local industry and that Galileo will creep along at best,” Engel said. “Still, creep it will, and it seems to have strong enough backing to carry it through to completion. There may be further efforts to interest the Russians or the Chinese in cooperation but it seems unlikely that they will bite.”