Brussels, 11 Jun 2003
Council Conclusions on the integration of the EGNOS programme in the Galileo programme (provisional version)
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GALILEO- INTEGRATION OF EGNOS - Council Conclusions
"Having regard to:
(i) previous Resolutions and Conclusions of the Council calling for an optimal or appropriate integration of the EGNOS programme in the GALILEO programme whilst preserving as long as necessary separate financial arrangements for the two programmes;
the near completion of the development and deployment phases of the EGNOS system developed together with the European Space Agency (ESA) and EUROCONTROL;
(iii) the investments already made in EGNOS by both the public and private sectors through financial contributions from the EU Trans-European Networks budget, from the ESA Member and Associate States and from public and private national air traffic service providers from a number of EU Member States who have formed the EGNOS Operation and Infrastructure Group (EOIG);
(iv) the Commission Communication on "the integration of the EGNOS programme in the GALILEO programme" presented to the European Parliament and the Council on 19 March 2003;
THE COUNCIL:
REAFFIRMS that EGNOS is an integral part of the European satellite radio-navigation policy and
UNDERLINES that it contributes to the European Union strategy for employment, economic reform and social cohesion launched by the Lisbon European Council in March 2000;
2. RECALLS that EGNOS is a satellite radio-navigation system which is at the same time independent from and complementary to the future GALILEO system;
3. NOTES the numerous significant contributions of the EGNOS programme to GALILEO;
4. therefore AGREES that
under the condition that funding of EGNOS is guaranteed, the EGNOS programme should be certified for aviation use, that it should become operational as soon as possible and allow for a service availability in the long term and that EGNOS should be used both as a precursor to GALILEO and as an instrument enabling GALILEO to penetrate rapidly the market for satellite radio-navigation services;
b) the EGNOS programme should be placed henceforth under the control of the GALILEO Joint Undertaking (JU) and that the JU should be entrusted with: the task of supervising the management of EGNOS after the programme "Operational Readiness Review" has been completed in April 2004,
- the conclusion of an agreement with an economic operator charged with operating EGNOS from April 2004 with due regard to the opinion of those parties who contributed to the funding of the development and deployment phases of the EGNOS system, making recommendations for suitable arrangements concerning ownership of EGNOS assets, intellectual property rights and commercial exploitation rights;
c) the advantages of a possible inclusion of the management of EGNOS as part of the future concession agreement for the management of GALILEO should be evaluated together with potential GALILEO concessionaires;
d) the EGNOS system should as far as necessary receive public funding from various sources from 2004 to 2008 in order to improve the system to meet the obligations of the international standards (such as ICAO and IMO);
e) the European Community will further contribute to EGNOS funding in the framework of Community budget for the trans-European networks (TENs) under the present Financial Perspectives, as a separate item and in accordance with the TEN-T financial regulation, and that it will consider further contributing to this funding after 2006;
f) the extension of EGNOS to other parts of the world should be pursued determinedly by the Commission and Member States, to share its operation with these regions and to promote the European technology;
g) the future orientation of EGNOS after GALILEO is fully deployed should be decided by the Council, on a proposal from the Commission, in liaison with the service providers and the users, once GALILEO becomes fully operational;
5. UNDERLINES that all parties who contributed to the funding of the development and deployment phases of the EGNOS system, particularly the EOIG members, should be involved in the future policy decisions concerning the system and that an appropriate agreement should therefore be concluded between all parties concerned and the GALILEO Joint Undertaking."