asked Her Majesty's Government:

What has been the total expenditure to date of public funds on the Galileo project; what further expenditure is included in the public spending plan for each of the next three years; and which other European Union countries are contributing financially to this project. [HL299]

The European Union (EU) and member states of the European Space Agency (ESA) have jointly funded the design and development of Galileo. Approximately €1.6 billion (£1.1 billion) is committed spend on the design and development of the system. The UK commitment to ESA is €142 million.

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 (£2.3 billion) over the period to 2013 for deployment and initial operation of the system. It is intended that future funding for the deployment and initial operation of Galileo will come directly from the EC budget and there will be no further contributions made to the project via the ESA. The Commission anticipates the following expenditure profiling over the next three years on Galileo:

2008: €940 million

2009: €800 million

2010: €990 million

EU member states make contributions to the EC budget as a whole and not to individual spending programmes within it. Consequently, all EU member states may be said to be contributing financially to Galileo.