DATE=3/26/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-287994

TITLE=E-U / GALILEO (S)

BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON

DATELINE=BRUSSELS

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: European Union transportation ministers, meeting in Brussels, have agreed to fund a multi-billion dollar satellite navigation system called Galileo. V-O-A correspondent Roger Wilkison reports the three-billion-dollar plan will create a network of satellites rivaling the U-S Global Positioning System, or G-P-S.

TEXT: Galileo has been on the boards (in the planning stage) for years, but its deployment was thrown into doubt last December when Britain, Germany and the Netherlands balked at releasing the cash to fund it.

At an E-U summit in Barcelona earlier this month, however, leaders of the 15-nation bloc decided that the Galileo project should go ahead. And transportation ministers took only 30 minutes on Tuesday to approve releasing close to 400 million dollars to fund its development.

The system, which is scheduled to become operational by the year 2008, is projected to cost three billion dollars. With the funds released Tuesday, coupled with money already released and additional financial backing by the European Space Agency, Galileo will have about one-third of the money it needs to get off the ground. The rest is to come from private investors.

One reason the E-U gave the project the green light is that it is worried about being dependent on G-P-S. The United States has called Galileo unnecessary. But Washington has also indicated that, if Galileo goes ahead, it would like to participate in its development. (Signed)

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