The Council reached a general approach on an amended
proposal for a Regulation on the further implementation of the European
satellite radio navigation programmes (EGNOSand Galileo), which constitute a key project
for the European Union.
The
agreed text is the result of work carried out within the Council's bodies and
of the presidency's informal negotiations with the European Parliament. On
this basis, the European Parliament will adopt its first-reading opinion at
its April or May session. This amended proposal constitutes the legal basis
for the budgetary implementation of the programmes during the current
financial period 2007-2013. It therefore needs to be finalised as quickly as
possible and adopted by both institutions in the framework of the codecision procedure.
Due to significant changes in the course of the
programme, the draft regulation provides for a series of amendments to the
Commission's initial proposal, taking into account the abandonment of the
concession scheme for the deployment phase in particular. The main
modifications are the following:
- the European Community will
assume responsibility for the deployment of the system;
- budgetary resources needed to
finance both programmes for the period from 1 January 2007 to 31
December 2013 are set at EUR 3.4 billion;
- the EGNOS programme is
included in the regulation as one of the two pillars of European
satellite radio navigation policy and the EGNOS system should be
declared operational as soon as possible ;
- the public governance of the
programme is strengthened by strictly defining the responsibilities of
the European Community (represented by the Commission), the European
GNSS Supervisory Authority and the European Space Agency, and by
declaring the Commission responsible for the management of the programme.
Further
modifications in the text agreed by the ministers are the result of the
negotiations with the European Parliament. They concern the following issues
in particular:
- the role
of the European GNSS Supervisory Authority: the GSA will ensure the security
accreditation of the system and the operation of the Galileo security
centre, and contribute to the preparation of the commercialisation of
the systems. In addition, the GSA will also be able to accomplish other
tasks entrusted to it by the Commission, in particular the promotion of
applications and services and ensuring the certification of the
components of the systems;
- the
Galileo Interinstitutional Panel: the European Parliament, the Council,
and the European Commission agreed to meet in the GIP, which will follow
the progress on the implementation of the programmes in particular, and
its main purpose will be to ensure a comprehensive exchange of
information. The GIP will be composed of three representatives from the
Council, three from the European Parliament and one from the Commission
and will meet, in principle, four times a year;
- comitology issues: in the
framework of the comitology procedure, in particular the regulatory
procedure with scrutiny, the institutions agreed on a balanced solution
providing for further involvement of the European Parliament.
The Commission will present an
annual report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the
implementation of the programmes. A mid-term review of the programmes will be
carried out in 2010. In particular, it will include a review of costs, risks
and likely revenues from the services offered by Galileo.