EU governments and lawmakers compromised on new financing...
EU governments and lawmakers compromised on new financing and governance rules for satellite navigation systems Galileo and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the European Council said Wednesday. The package still needs formal approval by the European Parliament and…
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council, and the amount allocated to the programs can’t be settled until the EU finalizes its next budget, it said. The compromise includes: (1) Adding as an objective the development of applications based on the satellite navigation systems such as chipsets and receivers. (2) Giving the European Commission responsibility for the security of the programs, and for setting the necessary technical specifications and other measures, subject to endorsement by national administrations. (3) Making changes to some other governance provisions, including use of best-practice management techniques. (4) Placing more emphasis on the possibility of extending EGNOS coverage to other regions of the world. The draft regulation sets a budget for 2014-2020 of 6.3 billion euros ($8.3 billion), to be fully funded by the EU, the council said. It defines the satellite navigation systems and programs and the services they will provide, as well a new governance regime that sets strict divisions of tasks among the EC, European Global Navigation Satellite System Agency and European Space Agency. It also establishes rules on public procurement to ensure the widest possible participation throughout the EU and fair competition conditions. Galileo will be an independent European global satellite navigation system that provides five services, the council said. There will be an open service free for users that offers timing and positioning; a commercial service for applications for professional or commercial use requiring higher performance than that of the open service; and a public regulated service that uses strong, encrypted signals and is restricted to government-authorized users. Galileo will also contribute to international search and rescue services by detecting emergency signals, and help integrity monitoring services aimed at users of safety-of-life applications, in cooperation with the U.S. Global Positioning Service. Initial services are expected to be available by 2014-2015, with the entire system fully operational by 2019-2020, the council said.