The technical development of Galileo is a joint project of the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA). Approximately €1.6 billion has been committed to the development phase of the system.
European Finance and Transport Ministers have recently agreed a way forward for the funding of Galileo over the 2007-13 financial perspective. Ministers have acknowledged the Commission’s estimate, based on a public procurement, of €3.4 billion over the period to 2013 for deployment and initial operation of the system, and have agreed that it should represent a ceiling on expenditure within this financial perspective. It is intended that the deployment and initial operation of Galileo will be taken forward as an EU only programme funded through the EC Budget.
The UK’s directly committed costs as an ESA member state for the ESA element of the design and development phase of the programme is €142 million. As EU member states contribute to the EC Budget as a whole rather than to individual spending programmes within it there is no specific UK contribution to the EC Budget funded element of the development and subsequent deployment costs for Galileo.
There has been no political discussion of potential funding commitments for the public sector beyond 2013.