Germany agrees to finance Galileo development phase

Brussels, 01 March 2002

Germany will provide 450 million euro for the development phase of Galileo, Europe's navigation satellite, announced Kurt Bodewig, Germany's Federal Minister for transport, construction and housing, on February.

'Satellite navigation is one of the key future technologies,' said Mr Bodewig, who added that Galileo has an enormous political, strategic and economic significance and will create new possibilities in transport, geographic information, land and environmental monitoring. Europe must be able to keep up with the development of this technology, he said.

The German government is insisting, however, that the European Commission secures private capital for this project and ensures that possible additional costs will not put a strain on national budgets. The joint projects should involve an agreement which guarantees that public funding for the project do not overstep those already outlined.

The EU's Transport Council will vote on the next phase of the Galileo project on 26 March.

For further information on the Ministry's position, please consult the following web address: http://www.bmvbw.de

CORDIS RTD-NEWS/© European Communities, 2001