Agreement nears on satellite navigation
Initially, the USA disputed the merits of the Galileo programme itself. Over 18 months of negotiations the USA has taken on board the EU's objective of achieving full interoperability between Galileo and GPS for the maximum benefit of users.
The USA originally opposed Galileo having a signal modulation that partly covers that of the GPS's future military signal, the code "M". European experts have able to show that there is no harmful interference between Galileo's signals and those of the GPS system and that the two systems are technically perfectly compatible.
Only two questions remain to be solved: the coexistence of between Galileo's open and GPS’ military signals in the event of a crisis and the prospects for further improving Galileo's signals.
On the first, the Commission has already made several concessions called for by the USA. The European Union, however, intends to have the best possible civil system in the form of Galileo. Some of the civilian service applications offered by the system require great precision, such as applications in an urban environment, emergency calls using the European number 112, the guidance of aircraft and guidance assistance for the blind. They require the choice of a very high-performance signal to guarantee Galileo's commercial success.
On the second question, the overall agreement under discussion must provide for an effective and transparent way for agreeing on how to optimise the performance of Galileo and GPS in line with technological developments and users' demands. This will take account of US national security concerns.
European Commission vice-president Loyola de Palacio comments: "I hope the remaining obstacles to the signing of an agreement covering all the subjects under discussion will be removed during the forthcoming negotiating session which will be held in Washington on January29 and 30, 2004."
