spacetoday.net: EU to shift to publicly-funded Galileo model

Posted: Fri, May 11, 2007, 8:04 AM ET (1204 GMT)
GIOVE-A satellite illustration (ESA)

European officials said Thursday that the EU would likely restructure the Galileo satellite navigation system as an entirely publicly funded venture after an industry consortium missed a deadline on a public-private partnership model. The consortium of European companies previously planned to run Galileo in partnership with European governments had a May 10 deadline to submit a governance plan that included a management structure, chief executive, and headquarters location, but failed to submit any plan. European Commission officials said Thursday that this failure likely meant that the original Galileo plan, whereby the private sector would help pay for Galileo's development and later operate it and collect revenues from its users, was dead. The EU is expected instead to press ahead with a more conventional plan to fund Galileo exclusively with public monies, with an announcement on this to come as early as next week.