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RR RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHHM RUEHIK RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD
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DE RUEHBS #0042/01 0101618
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 101618Z JAN 08 ZDK MULTI SVCS
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEU/EU INTEREST COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BRUSSELS 000042 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR OES/SAT 
DEPT FOR EUR/ERA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EUN TSPA TSPL
SUBJECT: EU: GALILEO READY FOR TAKEOFF; 2008 U.S.-EU SPACE 
POLICY DIALOGUE PREPARATIONS 
 
BRUSSELS 00000042  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶1.   (SBU) Summary: Ken Hodgkins, State Department Director 
for OES 
Office of Space and Advanced Technology, discussed with 
European 
Commission officials U.S. perspectives on the future of GPS 
and 
Galileo Cooperation, Europe's next steps in the development of 
Galileo, and the 2008 U.S.-EU Space Policy Dialogue.  European 
officials delivered the following key messages during the 
meetings: 
     -- The Galileo satellite navigation system has been fully 
approved by both the European Council and the European 
Parliament, 
and though the budget and timeline are tight, Galileo should 
reach 
full operational capability by the end of 2013.  The European 
Commission will be the owner/sponsor of the program, with 
oversight 
by the Council and Parliament, the European Space Agency will 
act as 
contractor, and GSA will develop future markets and 
applications. 
     -- The U.S. is a key partner in space, and the current 
strong 
cooperation on GPS-Galileo and Space Policy should continue 
and 
evolve as we move to the future.  Specifically, there look to 
be 
opportunities for the U.S. and EU to approach global issues, 
including 3rd country space programs and security topics, 
with a 
united front. 
     -- With the Commission's control of Galileo, China 
should play 
no role in the technological or programmatic development of 
Galileo, 
and will be relegated to cooperation only on specific Galileo 
applications to be used in China. 
     -- The Commission will host the U.S.-EU Space Policy 
dialogue 
in April 2008 and will deliver a draft agenda to the U.S. in 
the 
first weeks of January.  End summary. 
 
¶2.   (U) Director Hodgkins met in Brussels with Fotis 
Karamitsos, 
Eero Ailio, and Jeremie Godet from the Commission's Galileo 
Unit; 
Pedro Pedreira, Executive Director of the European GNSS 
Supervisory 
Authority (GSA); and Paul Weissenberg and Andras Roboz, from 
the 
Commission's Space Policy and Coordination Unit. 
 
---------------- 
Galileo Approved 
---------------- 
 
¶3.   (SBU) The European Heads of State formally approved the 
financing and governance structure of Galileo during the 
European 
Council on December 14.  This paves the way for full funding 
through 
2013 when Galileo is expected, assuming no further delays, to 
be at 
full operational capability.  (Comment: Fotis Karamitsos, 
Director 
for Logistics, Innovation, Co-modality, and Maritime 
Transport in 
the Transport and Energy Directorate, said that the schedule 
and the 
funding are very tight, and though he expects that the 
project can 
be performed on time and on budget, he implied it is very 
possible 
that there will be cost and schedule overruns. End comment.) 
The 
Council decision was just a formality, as the European 
Parliament 
and the Council meetings of the transport ministers and the 
finance 
ministers earlier in December resolved all problems. 
 
¶4.   (SBU) A key issue during negotiations was the new 
governance 
structure for the development of Galileo.  Director Karamitsos 
 
BRUSSELS 00000042  002.9 OF 004 
 
 
explained that since the financing is coming from public 
funds, the 
Commission will be the owner/sponsor of Galileo and in charge 
of 
most major decision making, with the Council and the 
Parliament in 
an oversight role.  The European Space Agency (ESA) will act 
as 
prime contractor and will perform the delegation of how to 
perform 
tasks, make calls for tender, and will select companies as 
contractors.  GSA, which was created as the oversight body 
between 
the Commission and industry during the time of the now-failed 
public-private partnership (PPP), will remain in an assistant 
role 
to the Commission.  Karamitsos detailed, later confirmed by 
GSA's 
Pedro Pedreira, that GSA will also have responsibility for the 
preparation of future markets and applications.  It is not 
yet clear 
who will have ultimate control over the day to day 
functioning of 
the satellites, and that decision will be made closer to 2013. 
Karamitsos explained that while the overarching governance 
decisions 
are complete, there are still several details to be worked 
out, 
specifically issues related to the handover of the project 
from ESA 
to the Commission, and it will take until April or May 2008 
before 
ESA will be able to make the calls for tender. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Future Galileo Cooperation with U.S. 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶5.   (SBU) During the meetings, European officials all 
stressed the 
need for continued close cooperation with the U.S. 
Specifically, 
Director Karamitsos stated that we need to publicize the 
strong 
cooperation between the EU and the U.S., and he suggested 
that a 
joint outreach event be organized.  With an eye towards the 
evolving 
relationship, during the meeting with Director Karamitsos, it 
was 
requested that there be further discussion about expanding 
the scope 
of some of the Working Groups under the GPS-Galileo Agreement. 
Under WG-A, Jeremie Godet opined that while the current 
mandate did 
not include discussion of how to approach 3rd parties, it may 
be 
worthwhile to investigate expanding the mandate.  (Comment: 
The aim 
of this discussion very clearly was to find a venue by which 
the 
Commission could discuss with the U.S. the issue of China and 
Chinese frequencies on the Compass SatNav system.  The 
Commission is 
very concerned about frequency overlap with Compass, 
particularly as 
it pertains to Galileo's secure PRS signal.  Karamitsos and 
Godet 
both expressed appreciation at U.S. efforts during 
international 
meetings such as the ITU, but explained that they believed 
bilateral 
pressure will work best in getting China to cooperate. End 
comment.) 
 
¶6.   (SBU) Responding to the Commission questions about 
Working 
Groups, Director Hodgkins expressed a need to ensure that the 
Working Groups stay within their general themes, and that it 
may be 
worth having periodic higher level meetings to discuss the 
status 
and undertakings of each of the Working Groups to determine if 
changes are needed. 
 
¶7.   (SBU) Jeremie Godet, while expressing that the EU needs 
 
BRUSSELS 00000042  003.3 OF 004 
 
 
to keep 
a special relationship with the U.S., explained that the 
Commission 
believes the U.S. will be the first non-European partner to 
cooperate on the encrypted Public Regulated Service (PRS) 
signal. 
However, he was unable to provide any concrete examples at 
this 
time, given that there are still internal discussions on 
exactly how 
the EU will use PRS.  The general concept as of now is that 
PRS will 
be used by the EU primarily in civil applications with some 
security 
missions such as peacekeeping and border control.  (Comment: 
See 
BRUSSELS 003421 for further information on individual member 
state 
plans for the PRS signal. End comment.) 
 
------------------------------ 
Galileo Cooperation with China 
------------------------------ 
 
¶8.   (SBU) Officials at both the Commission and GSA went into 
detail 
as to the current state of the Galileo relationship with 
China. 
Both Jeremie Godet and Eero Ailio of the Commission explained 
that 
now that the control of Galileo is firmly with the Commission, 
China's access to the programmatics and technical information 
will 
be strongly limited.  Ailio explained that the Commission 
needs to 
develop a "watertight system" for technology control, to 
include 
possibly new export controls to ensure non-proliferation to 
China. 
Godet explained that ESA created a problem in the past, 
specifically 
with the sale of Swiss clocks used on Galileo to China.  The 
entire 
transaction occurred completely within the framework of ESA, 
which 
has special exemptions related to exports, and which would 
not have 
transpired under the EU.  Ailio expects that special 
contractual 
rules will be included in the calls for tenders to limit the 
possibility of technology transfer so that the Swiss clock 
case is 
not repeated.  GSA Director Pedreira expanded upon that, 
explaining 
that China's cooperation forward will be limited to support 
in the 
management of Galileo applications to be used in China, and 
that no 
technical staff will be working on the project and no staff 
of any 
type will be working in Brussels.  Pedreira reiterated that 
the EU 
needs to adapt export control to Galileo to limit technology 
transfer and information exchange.  (Comment: Commission 
representatives have implied in several conversations that 
now that 
China is a true competitor with its Compass system, it is not 
in the 
best interests of the EU to assist China in SatNav 
development.  End 
comment.) 
 
-------------------------- 
2008 Space Policy Dialogue 
-------------------------- 
 
¶9.   (SBU) Paul Weissenberg, Director-Coordinator for the 
Aerospace, 
Defense, and Security Industry, used the meeting to focus 
primarily 
on the upcoming 2008 U.S.-EU Space Policy Dialogue, 
particularly the 
opportunities for further cooperation.  He expressed that 
while the 
U.S. and the EU have a good history of working together, many 
of the 
 
BRUSSELS 00000042  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
issues facing us now are global in nature, and the we should 
work 
together to tackle these global issues.  Prime among them 
include 
protection of space infrastructure from space weather and 
space 
debris or ionospheric interference for GNSS.  (Comment: These 
topics 
currently are what the Commission is referring to when using 
the 
term "security" as it applies to space issues.  Security will 
be 
placed on the agenda for the Space Dialogue, but only in a 
context 
that allows for further discussion to identify specific 
issues with 
joint interest.  At this time, the Commission is very 
hesitant to 
discuss purely military issues but has given indications that 
this 
is a topic into which the discussios can be expanded in the 
future. 
 End Commen.) Both Weissenberg and Andras Roboz, Head ofUnit for 
Space Policy and Coordination, were very appreciative of U.S. 
interest to discuss guidelines for behavior in space and space 
situational awareness cooperation. 
 
¶10.   (SBU) Director Hodgkins advised that the U.S. submitted 
to the 
Portuguese Presidency comments on the EU's Draft Code of 
Conduct for 
Space Activities (See STATE 157671 for U.S. comments). 
(Comment: 
Director Weissenberg requested a copy of the U.S. comments, 
which 
were delivered by USEU shortly after the meeting. End 
comment.)  He 
also expressed support for the EU initiative and that the 
U.S. was 
in a position to cooperate and discuss the EU's ideas. 
Additionally, he explained that the U.S. would like to 
discuss the 
possibilities of cooperation on space situational awareness, 
which 
will be placed on the agenda of the Space Dialogue in order to 
determine specific issues of joint interest.  Finally, 
Director 
Hodgkins requested further information on changes to the 
competency 
with respect to space outlined in the Lisbon Treaty, which 
will be 
covered in further detail during the Space Dialogue. 
 
MURRAY 
.