"There will be greater participation by the public sector in the construction phase of the system," he said, three days before a deadline for the eight private builders to sort out their differences.

The Galileo project is meant to compete with the US Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) navigation system, which is free and used in many vehicles, boats and aircraft, but has been accused of being unreliable.

But almost two years after being named, a private consortium of industry giants -- AENA, Alcatel, EADS, Finmeccanica, Hispasat, Inmarsat, TeleOp and Thales -- has made little progress on the project, angering the commission.

"Galileo is going through a deep and grave crisis," Tiefensee said.

He said it was probable that public funds would be used in the "construction" of the system while the private partners would take responsibility for the "exploitation phase".

One official has said that completely taking over Galileo would cost a just less than two billion euros (2.7 billion dollars) on top of the 1.5 billion euros the European Commission already allocated in the 2007-2013 budget period.

EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot is due to present on May 16 a list of alternatives for the struggling project.

They are expected to range from totally taking over Galileo, a system of some 30 satellites which could be operational as late as 2013, partially financing the project or abandoning it altogether, officials have said.

Email This Article

Related Links
Galileo GPS
GPS Applications, Technology and Suppliers