EESC Opinion: Galileo - European supervisory authority (extract)

Brussels, 13 September 2006

OPINION of the European Economic and Social Committee on the GALILEO programme: successful establishment of the European supervisory authority Own-initiative opinion _____________
Full text of Opinion in MS Word file on ESC website

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Conclusions and recommendations The European Economic and Social Committee attaches great importance to the success of the Galileo programme, and accordingly emphasises the need for the hand-over period between the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) and the Galileo Supervisory Authority (GSA) to be effected smoothly. To this end, it recommends: setting up a plan for the transfer of activities from the Joint Undertaking to the Supervisory Authority in order to ensure the legal certainty of the operation; providing legal and practical solutions for the issue of the transfer of activities carried out by third country entities (China and Israel) associated with the Joint Undertaking to the Supervisory Authority; ensuring that the Joint Undertaking's remaining appropriations are effectively handed over to the Supervisory Authority; making sure that there is no overlap of responsibilities between the Joint Undertaking and the Supervisory Authority before the date of winding up of the Joint Undertaking; avoiding any interruption in the negotiations on the concession contract; guaranteeing the international liability arrangements for the launching States of the Galileo constellation satellites. Introduction The transfer of business between the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) and the Galileo Supervisory Authority (GSA) must be completed by the end of 2006. For the future success of the Galileo programme, it is crucial that the transfer should take place under the best possible conditions from the legal, human, financial and budgetary points of view. Similarly, it is preferable that the negotiations on the concession contract begun by the Joint Undertaking, and to be taken up by the supervisory authority, should continue seamlessly. Lastly, the specific issue of the international liability of states under the Galileo programme needs to be addressed, as it must be resolved before the concession contract discussions end and the forthcoming launches of the Galileo constellation satellites. General comments

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European Economic and Social Committee