Posted: Thu, Dec 26, 2002, 5:19 PM ET (2219 GMT)
Disagreements by Germany and Spain have prevented the European Space Agency (ESA) from reaching a final agreement regarding its participation in the Galileo satellite navigation system, the agency reported this week. In a statement issued December 23, ESA officials said that all but two countries had agreed on a plan for ESA's participation in Galileo during an ESA Council meeting on December 11-12. However, Germany and Spain failed to sign on to the plan, and negotiations have broken off until after the Christmas holidays. AFP, however, reported that Italy, and not Spain, was one of the countries that had blocked the agreement. The nature of the disagreement, nor the terms of the plan being discussed, were announced by ESA. Several European countries had battled for shares of the contracts that will be awarded to develop the satellite navigation system that will be analogous to the American GPS system. Space News reported in its print edition last week that a tentative agreement had been reached. ESA is jointly developing Galileo with the European Union.

Related Links:

•  ESA press release
•  AFP article