IP/01/431
Brussels, 22 March 2001
GALILEO: the European Commission mobilises € 200 million in funding
On the eve of the Stockholm European Council, the European Commission called on the private sector to commit itself financially to the GALILEO project, right from the development phase. After a meeting with interested industrialists, held in Brussels on 15 March 2001, Loyola de Palacio and Philippe Busquin today presented a Memorandum of Understanding which envisages financial commitments from the private sector to the tune of € 200 million over the development phase, 2001-2005. The companies which signed this memorandum represent the main players in the sector: service suppliers, operators, equipment suppliers and space system manufacturers.
Loyola de Palacio, Vice-President in charge of transport and energy, stressed the importance of this agreement with industry: "GALILEO is a very important European project which creates a potential market of € 9 billion a year and should generate 140,000 jobs. Industry has made no mistake: by signing this memorandum it showed its will to see this project taking shape quickly". She added: " GALILEO will have a major impact on the daily life of all citizens: Europeans have to show ambition and to dare to start this big adventure ".
The European project Galileo of positioning by satellite
GALILEO is the European satellite radionavigation programme which will enable each individual to know their position, thanks to a small, cheap, individual receiver, to a precision of within one metre.
This technology, which will have many applications, already exists in the United States with the GPS system and in Russia with the GLONASS system. In these countries, it is financed and controlled by the military authorities. Therefore, the continuity and the quality of its civil use depend on the military authorities, which can, for example, stop or deteriorate the signal. On the contrary, GALILEO proposes to ensure total reliability of the system and to guarantee the continuity of the emission of the signal.
The GALILEO programme, presented by the Commission, will be managed and controlled by civilians.
The stages for the carrying out of the programme
This programme should proceed in four stages:
- a definition phase, nearing completion (€ 80 millions, already financed);
- a development phase (2001-2005) with public financing of € 1.1 billion, already programmed within the budgets of the European Union and the European space Agency;
- a phase of deployment of the satellites (2006-2007), with financing of € 2.1 billion, funded essentially by the private sector;
- a use phase as from 2008, with maintenance expenses of about € 220 million a year.
Nevertheless, in the last months, several partners had criticised the lack of private financing as from the development phase and conditioned an agreement in the Council to a quicker commitment of industry.
Signature of a Memorandum of Understanding for a € 200 million private funding
On the initiative of the Vice-President Loyola de Palacio and Philippe Busquin, Commissioner responsible for Research, a group of industrialists signed a «Memorandum of Understanding» which envisages financial commitments of € 200 million, in order to facilitate the launching of the development phase. This agreement points out the importance that signatory companies attach to the development of this major industrial programme and their expectation of a clear political decision launching the project.
In order to make this co-funding easier, it is planned to set up a structure in charge of the implementation of the programme (joint undertaking or any other comparable structure to be defined). Its tasks would be the consolidation of an overall business plan consolidation, which will make possible to associate closely the private companies with the development phase, particularly as regards the definition of the services to be provided by Galileo.
Signatories agreed to meet in June to identify the financial commitments, which could be made from the development phase onward as a complement to the public funding, according to the timetable set out in annex.
ANNEX: TIMETABLE
21 March: signing of Memorandum of Understanding
23 March: Stockholm European Council
5 April: Transport Council:
- adoption of a resolution on the conditions for implementing the development phase;
- release of a first tranche of € 100 million (out of the 550 million of the contributing share of the European Union towards the development phase)
18 April: consultation of the signatories of the Memorandum of Understanding on the draft statutes for a joint undertaking
May: adoption by the Commission and transmission to the Council and the European Parliament of a draft Council Decision on the statutes of a joint undertaking
detailed presentation of the statutes to the signatories of the Memorandum of Understanding
15 June: confirmation by signatories of their commitments to the amount of € 200 million
27 June: Transport Council :
- Council Decision on the definition of services;
- Presentation by the Commission of a preliminary draft business plan
-Exchange of views on draft statutes for the joint undertaking
30 June: call for tender with the aim of securing before the end of 2001 proposals covering all subsequent phases of the programme that will be placed at the disposal of the joint undertaking
July: opinion of the European Parliament on the statutes of the joint undertaking
16 October: Transport Council
Adoption of the statutes of the joint undertaking
November : formation of the capital of the joint undertaking and
designation of a facilitator for that purpose
November : Ministerial Conference of the ESA : adoption of the
Programme Declaration and Financial Annex
6 December: Transport Council
release of the remaining € 450 million provided for the carrying-out of the development phase
1st January 2002 : launching of the joint undertaking
2002 : adoption by the joint undertaking of the overall business plan