Europe's planned satellite-navigation system Galileo will be financed from public coffers only, DPA QUOTED the European Commission as saying Wednesday, scrapping a plan to build the ambitious project in partnership with private industry. EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said that the 27-nations bloc's biggest ever joint technological project could only get off the ground if the bill would be wholly footed by the public sector. An extra 2.4 billion euros (3.26 billion dollars) of public money would be needed to cover the projects' total cost of about 4 billion euros, Barrot said. This would come on top of the 1.4 billion euros national governments have already committed for Galileo, seen as Europe's answer to the United States-run global positioning system GPS. EU transport ministers must assess the proposal at a meeting next month. "A lack of progress" in the negotiations between the eight companies charged with developing and running the system posed a serious threat to get Galileo into orbit, the commission said. "The most beneficial, the most realistic and ... the most economic option" would be to finance the project from public funds only, the EU executive said. Private industry would then be tasked with operating the system. New bids will be called for operation and maintenance of satellites. Amid internal bickering, the companies involved in Galileo had missed a May 10 deadline to decide how to share work on the project. Calling on EU member states to step up funding for Galileo, Barrot argued that the project "embodies Europe's ambitions in space, technology and innovation." The system would be used for civilian purposes only, monitoring natural disasters, air and sea rescue services and for a range of commercial uses.
