EU approves funding for Galileo satellite system

The European Parliament today approved plans to provide €1bn from the EU budget over the period 2007-2013 to fund the deployment and commercial operations of the Galileo satellite system.

The Galileo project is similar to the US Global Positioning System, providing satellite-guided navigation for everything from motorists and sailors to mapmakers.

The EU hopes the project will generate at least 150,000 jobs. The private sector is to provide two-thirds of the funding and European governments the rest.

Many non-European countries have also shown interest in participating in Galileo, including India, Russia and China.

Also last June, the EU and the United States struck a deal to make Galileo compatible with the American GPS system, a move which ended a trans-Atlantic row over the issue.