Belay that sanguinity on Galileo

Only a day ago I was being jocular about the prospects of Galileo. But the Scaramouch Fandago has moved to the No, No, No, No, section of the song. Take a look at this opinion from the Budgets Committee of the European Parliament from earlier this week,

4. Stresses that Galileo is the first EU-owned project and that to avoid uncertainties, reassure market players and bring it to full operability within the shortest possible period its budget must be steadily increased; supports, therefore, the proposal that in the future, where large-scale projects such as this are concerned, a predetermined annual amount should be covered from the EU budget and that the Member States should be responsible for financing any balance;


5. Points out that the estimated figure (€1.9 billion) included in the mid-term review for the period after 2013 is purely indicative and might represent a low estimate of the actual amount needed to complete the project.

And pay attention to comments such as 'budget must be steadily increased' and 'Member States should be responsible for financing any balance" and my personal favourite, 'might represent a low estimate of the actual amount needed to complete the project'.

What they are saying here is that in order to finance this and other massive vanity projects the National Governments of the EU must be prepared to sign undated blank cheques.

Can somebody please stop these lunatics?