VZCZCXRO9051
RR RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHHM RUEHIK RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD
RUEHROV
DE RUEHBS #0046/01 0101712
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 101712Z JAN 08
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 03 BRUSSELS 000046 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR OES/SAT 
DEPT FOR EUR/ERA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EUN TSPA TSPL
SUBJECT: CORRECTED COPY: EU: GALILEO READY FOR TAKEOFF; 
2008 U.S.-EU SPACE POLICY DIALOGUE PREPARATIONS 
 
 
¶1.   (U) The following is a corrected copy of BRUSSELS 000042 
for format corrections. 
 
¶2.   (SBU) Summary: Ken Hodgkins, State Department 
Directorfor OES Office of Space and Advanced Technology, 
discussed with uropean Commission officials U.S. 
perspective 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. 
 
¶3.   (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 
---------------- 
 
¶4.   (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. 
 
¶5.   (SBU) A key issue during negotiations was the new 
governance structure for the development of Galileo. 
Director Karamitsos 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. 
------------------------------------ 
 
BRUSSELS 00000046  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶6.   (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.) 
 
¶7.   (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. 
 
¶8.   (SBU) Jeremie Godet, while expressing that the EU needs 
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 
------------------------------ 
 
¶9.   (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 Commissionneeds 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 
-------------------------- 
 
¶10.   (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 
 
BRUSSELS 00000046  003 OF 003 
 
 
cooperation.  He expressed that while the U.S. and the EU 
have a good history of working together, many of the 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 discussions can be expanded in the 
future.  End Comment.) Both Weissenberg and Andras Roboz, 
Head of Unit for Space Policy and Coordination, were very 
appreciative of U.S. interest to discuss guidelines for 
behavior in space and space situational awareness cooperation. 
 
¶11.   (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, irector Hodgkins requested further information o 
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 
.