EGNOS and Galileo programmes

17.3.2009

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1985/09
by Anne Laperrouze (ALDE)
to the Council

In connection with the financial rules governing the in-orbit validation (IOV) contract, industry has again had to face institutional deadlock that has been resolved by what amounts — regrettably — to another makeshift quick fix.

The European institutions and the arrangements applying between the European Commission and the European Space Agency are exposing industry to wholly exceptional risks and constraints (at both national and international level).

Galileo is about to enter a critical industrial phase in which a final decision will be taken on the selection of suppliers and their contracts will be finalised.

There is a particularly great deal at stake in terms of industrial risks and jobs and, of course, as regards the success of the programme.

What is needed, therefore, both for industry and for the Galileo and EGNOS programmes, is overall coherence, that is to say, visibility and long-term commitments.

The institutional response has to move into line with industrial reality and not the other way round (implying a need for better decision-making and for long-term commitments to be formalised). What solutions should be brought to bear on the constraints affecting these programmes and the industries that will implement them?

The above points apply equally to EGNOS, the forerunner of Galileo in a number of respects, which has been fully operational for more than a year, but for which no contract has yet been formally concluded with those who will be called upon to carry out long-term operations, keep the programme running, and develop it over the next five years, starting on 1 April 2009. What is involved here is certification of the system and the marketing of its signals, as well as the success of Galileo.

OJ C 189, 13/07/2010