Commission Agenda Entry: Wednesday, 7th June: Progress report on the GALILEO programme

Brussels, 02 Jun 2006

The news:

• As is the case every year, the Commission is to inform the European Parliament about the progress being made with the Galileo programme. This progress report is the subject of a Communication to be adopted by the Commission on June 7th.
• Galileo is a European programme for satellite radio navigation. It was launched by the European Commission and jointly developed with the European Spatial Agency (ESA).
• The Galileo Programme is working on the development of a new generation of universal services in areas such as transport (vehicle location, route searching, speed control, guidance systems), social services (e.g. aid for the disabled or elderly), the justice system and customs services (location of suspects, border controls), public works (geographical information systems), search and rescue systems and leisure (direction-finding at sea or in the mountains).
• At present, this technology is only accessible through the American GPS system and the Russian GLONASS system, which are both financed and controlled by military authorities. The GALILEO programme will be managed and controlled by civil authorities, guaranteeing the quality and continuity essential for the various applications.
• It will complement the current systems and will improve the reliability and the availability of navigation and location services throughout the world.

The event:
Publication of the report and an IP

The sources:

• European Commission website:

http:///ec.europa.eu/dgs/energy_transport/galileo/index_e...

The contacts:
Stefaan De Rynck + 32 2 299 99 ; Maria Quillinan-Meiland + 32 2 299 4014

Item source: AGENDA/05/9