EU picks up bill for Galileo

AFTER A TROUBLED START for the Galileo sat-nav system, EU member states will be forced to give the project a proverbial kick up the backside.

The private consortium, including quarreling companies such as Thales, Alcatel, Hispasat and Deutsche Telekom, had its deadline on the 10th of May and failed to create a single body to run Galileo.

Now, the European Commission is expected to throw together new plans which will give the project a much needed reworking, and should be revealed on the 16th of May. The EC reckons that one way to fix the disaster is to use public money as a guarantee for the economic risks that the project brings.

Originally we were looking at about €2 billion for the initial deployment phase - that's the satellites going up and ground stations being built - with two thirds of the cash coming from the private sector.

However, European Commission spokesman Michele Cercone believes that the revised option, or Project Public Dosh, will be better for Europe's taxpayers for the long term. µ

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