§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Macclesfield (Mr. Winterton) on 3 December 2001,Official Report, column 53W, on the Galileo Project, and following the EU Transport Council meeting of 7 December 2001, if he will make a statement on the UK's commitment to the Galileo project. [28024]
569W
§ Mr. SpellarI refer the hon. Member to my report of the Transport Council, which includes an account of discussions on Galileo, pursuant to my answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Clydesdale (Mr. Hood) on 12 December 2001,Official Report, columns 875–77W.
Following the Transport Council, the Laeken European Council reaffirmed the strategic importance of Galileo. It also invited the Transport Council to continue its work on the project with a view to deciding on funding for, and management of the development phase by next March and June respectively. The council was asked to take account of a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) on the project, which the European Commission issued only on 22 November.
In principle the Government support Galileo, but, as my report of the Transport Council indicates, we and some other member states have outstanding concerns about cost-benefit, financial viability and management aspects of the project. Some of these issues are addressed by the PWC report. But PWC make clear that the system is likely to require more public funding than the Commission previously estimated, including ongoing support through the operational phase.