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posted by janrinok on Friday May 25 2018, @09:19PM   Printer-friendly
from the one-step-forward,-two-steps-back dept.

Britain ramped up a Brexit space row with the EU on Thursday, saying it will demand repayment if it is excluded from the Galileo satellite navigation project. Newspaper reports suggested London could seek £1 billion ($1.34 billion, 1.14 billion euros) in compensation for its investment in the programme.

Brussels has said it will deny London access to Galileo's encrypted signals after Brexit, citing legal issues about sharing sensitive security information with a non-member state.

A report issued by Britain's Department for Exiting the European Union said it had "strong objections" to being frozen out of the 10-billion-euro programme and called for an "urgent resolution to the exclusion". "Should the UK's future access be restricted, the UK's past contribution to the financing of space assets should be discussed," the report said. The British report suggested it may have to reopen negotiations on the £39 billion (40-45 billion euros) Brexit "divorce bill" that was agreed in December to make up for its exclusion. It said the deal agreed then had provided for Britain's continued involvement in the Galileo programme, which has important uses in both the civilian and military fields.

[...] Britain played a major role in developing Galileo, an alternative to the US's GPS, which is expected to be fully operational in 2026. It demands continued British access to the secure signal and a right to compete for contracts. Britain is looking into developing its own, separate system if the EU maintains its position, and has also raised the question of Galileo's use of Britain's overseas territories as monitoring bases.

[...] The Times newspaper reported Thursday that the decision to block Britain was being led by a "German-backed clique" in the European Commission, and that it had caused a rift with French officials, who were reportedly unhappy with the plan. Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the Baltic states have also objected to denying Britain access, said the report.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 26 2018, @03:57AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 26 2018, @03:57AM (#684350)

    Also, someone should cold-call 1000 Brexit voters and see if any of them spontaneously utter the words "EC" or "trading block". Versus the number who mention "NHS" and "jobs". Britain is going to get a net gain of jobs back in the form of seasonal strawberry picking at the expense of its professional workforce. The NHS line was a sad joke by (conservative) Boris Johnson, who will gut it and privatize in favor of US style insurance = higher price, lower outcomes.

  • (Score: 2) by fritsd on Saturday May 26 2018, @01:11PM

    by fritsd (4586) on Saturday May 26 2018, @01:11PM (#684501) Journal

    In fact, they've got a Tory minister of Health, Jeremy Hunt, who wrote a book about "how to dismantle the NHS".

    (1) underfund in the NHS for many years

    (2) "oh dear what is this? our NHS has declined so much we might as well put the critter out of its misery and organize something new alongside neoliberal economic lines"

    (3) profit.