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back to article Brussels politicos: More cash for Galileo, pronto

Galileo, the rolling European satnav project fracas, has hit the headlines again as parliamentarians in Brussels demand extra funds for the coming year. Thus far, Galileo consists of little more than an orbiting placeholder, thrown up hastily to hold onto critical spectrum. However, it is planned to become a world-girdling …

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  1. amanfromMars Silver badge

    Juicy Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds...... 42 Shine a Founding Path?

    And to whom will funding go? And what will they be doing for the funds? Would anyone like to be very specific for it will be drawn personally for spending.

    ""Parliament cannot accept jeopardising Galileo... which is an indispensable strategic tool," said French socialist MEP Catherine Guy-Quint." ..... I agree, Catherine, it is Vital to Virtual European success.

    "Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands would like to channel the rescue funds via the European Space Agency (ESA), which would result in a Galileo not under Brussels' control. In that case, the system would probably be entirely civil in nature, as the ESA has no aspirations to be a government." ........ What an excellent Idea for a Space Based Proxy Governance Control though .....of European based Powers.

    Lamb chops, all round, for the boys.... Love beads for the gals? :-) Woof, woof, ruf, ruf,...... Beagle Bugs at IT work.

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  2. Natalie Gritpants

    Unspent farm subsidies!

    Thanks, I'll have those back (cash, cheque, lower taxes, I don't care)

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  3. Spider
    Flame

    flying white elephant?

    It should be a major indicator to the health of this project that the private sector won't touch with a barge pole that'd reach orbit. Instead we end up funding a plaything of policy for a comission staffed by cronies that either couldn't get elected or screwed up so badly they were drummed out of their own countries. There's no way an organisation so inept and corrupt that it can't even get its own accounts signed off can run a project of this magnitude. It's sickening that I'm not even surprised by this...

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    bollocks, bullsh*t and other lies

    half of the article is praising the oh so enlightened Euros for producing this self gratifying system and saying it will be "entirely civil", since the ESA "doesn't want to be a government". Who the f**k do you think the ESA is part of? The author doesn't mind ripping NASA et al because it's a Yank government agency and strapping in his foaming bias at anything that they launch as being "kill" this and "secret" that. But his ESA, oh no that's totally different...

    and in the next paragraph we get the line: "indispensible strategic tool". Will the author ever apply that famous ranting paranoia of "code words" to this phrase? Considering the still-constitutionless EU is already brewing an offense capable military, this should be the perfect target for anti-military cranks. But that's biting the hand that feeds, isn't it? Only American military tech needs to be ranted and clowned on, since we've only in the last few decades discovered our imperialist side. The EU, GB included, with centuries of repeated, documented imperial invasions of everyone, is apparently safe to be trusted and treated with respect for going out of it's way to develop a completely redundant "strategic" asset.

    What European kingdoms couldn't do with armies and cannon and warfare, they're doing with money. Feudal lords running consortiums, taxing their peasants to support armies, installing cameras and an unaccountable knighthood of law enforcement. Forbidding the people the very right to travel, to protect themselves, to even privacy. While town criers yell out the news the Royalty wants to people to see.

    That's a good shill. Keep the people afraid of those scary Colonists across the Atlantic. Play the old propaganda games-ridicule your enemy in order to discredit him. Add some jingoism about how the same things your burgeoning Empire does is somehow different, or is "in response to" some manufactured boogeyman. Keep your Consortium Masters proud. Maybe you'll get that big slot at the BBC (another Government controlled media outlet that's "OK" for some reason) as it's obviously circling the drain too.

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  5. John Latham
    Coat

    GPS 2.0

    It all makes sense now.

    Over-expensed and under-appreciated Eurocrats have been looking on as Google, eBay et al pay megabucks to acquire worthless Web 2.0 crud.

    Now they have found the perfect analogy.

    Massive infrastructure investment, billions of potential users, and a product whose market price is currently zero but which might be "monetized" at some mythical future point.

    Obviously they are hoping that the EU will be bought by Google!

    John

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  6. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    "indispensible strategic tool" ?

    Well if it is that indispensable to have an independent GPS system, maybe it would also be a good idea to mandate all government structures to use Linux, thereby removing the most widespread malware vector that is Windows ?

    And concerning our imperial past, yes, we can actually be trusted because we've grown tired of it, whereas you guys are still getting high on it. As for being forbidden to travel or protect myself, I don't from where you're pulling that but, seeing as you don't live here, it's normal that you don't have a clue. Especially since you seem to think that Great Britain _is_ the EU. I'm sure there's more than one Englishman who'd have a lot to say about that.

    As for the right to privacy, you're making the mistake of thinking that what your government does, everyone else's government does as well. You probably think that your Constitutional Rights apply anywhere in the world, too. I hope, for your sake, that you never discover just how wrong you are.

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