Government to resist demands for more Galileo funds

Minister says the number of satellites should be slashed to keep scheme within budget agreed in 2007

Transport minister Theresa Villiers has warned MPs that the UK will insist on keeping within Galileo's €3.4bn budget.

It will achieve this by slashing the number of satellites proposed for the controversial EU global navigation system from 30 to 18.

Villiers laid out the UK position ahead of a Council of Ministers debate on an EU Commission demand for a further €1.9bn to complete the original programme.

Villiers, addressing a UK parliament committee, added that the Commission must also accept UK demands for the inclusion of security considerations as part of the Public Regulated Service, one of four functions an 18-satellite system could deliver.

The others are: an open public service, a commercial service and a search and rescue service.

She conceded the reduced satellite constellation would be unlikely to be able to support a proposed safety of life service, whose main function would be to assist aircraft to land at airports lacking instrument landing systems – a function not required in the UK.

Villiers told MPs the Commission must be held to account for its use of public money, adding: "The government simply cannot accept that the answer is to pour more money into the programme, so we are opposing the grant of additional funds for Galileo over and above the budget agreed in 2007."

She added: "We do not believe in writing a blank cheque for Galileo."

She said she had told EU Commission vice-president Antonio Tajani that Britain needed a far clearer explanation as to why the programme was over budget and had demanded assurances that problems besetting it would be remedied and that British demands for enhanced security would be met.

She admitted axing Galileo is not a viable option and claimed it would be possible to expand it later to 30 satellites.

She also revealed the UK has offered to host one of two Galileo security monitoring stations alongside the French government.

A motion supporting the UK government line was passed without a vote.

UK companies have so far won contracts worth more than €316m on the validation stage of the project and the UK share of satellite payload work is worth €236m.

The first two satellites are due to be launched in August.