A4-0413/98

Resolution on the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament 'Towards a Trans-European Positioning and Navigation Network: including a European Strategy for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)' (COM(98)0029 - C4-0188/98)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the communication from the Commission (COM(98)0029 - C4-0188/98),

- having regard to the Council Resolution of 19 December 1994 on the European contribution to the development of a Global Navigation Satellite System ((OJ C 379, 31.12.1994, p. 2.)),

- having regard to its resolutions of 19 January 1995 on the European contribution to the development of a Global Satellite Navigation System ((OJ C 43, 20.2.1995, p. 71.)) and of 3 April 1998 on a European contribution to the development of a Global Navigation Satellite System ((OJ C 138, 4.5.1998, p. 218.)),

- taking note of the Council conclusions on a European strategy for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) ((OJ C 379, 31.12.1994, p. 2.)),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Transport and Tourism and the opinions of the Committee on Budgets, the Committee on Research, Technological Development and Energy and the Committee on External Economic Relations (A4-0413/98),

A. whereas recent decades have seen significant progress in the launching and use of geostationary and geosynchronous satellites for a variety of land-based applications, mainly in the fields of telecommunications and data transmission,

B. whereas the same technologies can increasingly be used to obtain a precise knowledge of the geographical position of any mode of transport at any time or place,

C. whereas this field is expected to expand further as improved technologies permit greater precision in positioning and more cost-effective use of these possibilities, so as to enhance the efficiency and safety of land, sea and air transport through better management,

D. whereas, in certain applications, satellite-based navigation systems could make an important contribution to achieving the Community's objective of an environmentally and economically sustainable transport policy,

E. reiterating its position that further progress in this field should be achieved on the basis of international cooperation and joint activities but that Europe should proceed on its own if certain conditions, mainly concerning the availability and reliability of the systems as well as access for and the participation of European industry on an equal basis, cannot be met,

F. insisting that the European Union must not be left behind in the development of technological capabilities and management of the related technologies, which are essential for its economic growth, and that it has a strategic need to control a GNSS system,

G. reiterating its view that the participation of the EU in GNSS is necessary on grounds of international competitiveness, to create new jobs and in order to remove the uncertainties regarding the availability and quality of the satellite signal,

H. stressing that the participation of the EU as a leading player in the development of GNSS in a market dominated by the USA will protect European interests,

I. having regard to the new programme, EATCHIP, which is being developed by Eurocontrol and which will, in the near future, increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of air traffic management, and whereas the EU is participating fully in this endeavour,

1. Welcomes the Commission's proposed action plan, which constitutes a concrete step forward in the development of a civil multimodal system, fully integrated in the trans-European transport and telecommunications networks;

2. Welcomes the fact that the research required is already included in the Community's Fourth Research Framework Programme and continues to be part of the Fifth Research and Development Programme;

3. Welcomes the Council conclusions, which invite the Commission to proceed with the drawing-up of a strategy for GNSS and to present it at the beginning of 1999;

4. Calls on the Commission to keep not only the Council, as proposed in its communication COM(98)0029, but also the European Parliament regularly informed of the outcome of the bilateral talks at the highest level;

5. Points out, however, that the volume of research and development involved is such that a wider range of research resources should be made available, both through universities and through industry;

6. Emphasises the need to encourage basic research and technological demonstrations required to develop appropriate satellites, ground installations and on-board equipment to improve the safety and management of air traffic in particular, but also of sea and land traffic, and to enable GNSS to be used for other existing and future applications (road safety, telematics applications, surveying, rescue work, surveillance, fleet management, etc.);

7. Stresses the need to involve at an early date, as part of the close cooperation with the organisations and institutions active in the field of satellite technologies, all interested parties as well as research establishments in the Member States;

8. Calls on the Member States of the Union to convene a European Space Council at Head of State or Government level to give clear decisions on the strategic, technical and budgetary guidelines and on the timetable for GNSS2 after negotiations with the US and Russia; considers that the Council should assess the desirability of holding a World Conference on the issue;

9. Stresses that the use of satellite navigation may help to create an efficient, safe, more cost-effective and more environment-friendly overall transport system;

10. Stresses that GNSS will open up a potentially huge market owing to the great variety of its applications, for instance in the transport, fishing, agriculture and leisure sectors;

11. Stresses that many jobs could be created as a result of participation by Europe in the development of GNSS and the resulting applications and services;

12. Points out that this close cooperation should not only concern equal participation in the promotion of a European contribution to GNSS but also equal access to all basic technologies resulting from such joint action;

13. Stresses that participation in the development of GNSS will help to establish a general culture of using space application technologies;

14. Calls for the location of installations (control centres, surveillance and relay stations) to be clearly identified to ensure that they marry up to airport installations, sea and land (rail and road) transport communications centres, and equipment for other existing and future GNSS applications;

15. Calls on the Commission to conduct in-depth negotiations with potential international partners with the aim of jointly developing a trans-European positioning and navigation network;

16. Calls on the Commission to decide as soon as possible, and no later than the beginning of 1999, in favour of one of the three options mentioned in its communication for the development of a trans-European positioning and navigation network and to present a coherent strategy defining and setting out the objectives of GNSS 2, including all potential services and a clear financial perspective covering the cost of installing the satellite system and the schedule of charges;

17. Encourages the Commission to support the European industry in its cooperation with Russia to utilise GLONASS signals within EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service), and in its international promotion efforts for the EGNOS services to cover neighbouring countries such as CEECs and TMCs;

18. Looks favourably on the steps undertaken on 23-24 June by the Council of the ESA (European Space Agency) for a GNSS study in the new ESA work programme and on the continuing ESA leadership in managing the European GNSS effort;

19. Asks the Commission to take the lead in the international fora as the European negotiator for satellite orbital positions and frequencies assignment to the satellite navigation services;

20. Asks the Commission to assess the need for an entity at European level (European Agency for Navigation) to certify EGNOS services internally with the Member States and internationally with all partners, and to harmonise interoperability rules and usage regulations in a multimodal environment;

21. Supports the concept of a second generation GNSS which should further significantly improve traffic safety with respect to systems such as GPS (Global Positioning System) and GLONASS. The new GNSS system should include new technology to provide for communications and traffic management functions in addition to positioning and navigation;

22. Calls, in this respect, on the Commission to extend its studies to examine further the future possibilities offered by the second phase of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS-2) as well as the costs involved and the means available for allocating costs to users according to the benefits obtained therefrom;

23. Calls, furthermore, on the Commission to set up a regulatory framework for the European industries, enabling them to establish applications for European space technologies in air, land and sea navigation as well as in telecommunications, environmental protection, farming, fishing, mining, geodesy and other fields of use and make use of the creation of an internal market for such applications;

24. Calls on the Commission and EU Member States to guarantee the frequency requirements for GNSS;

25. Stresses that the biggest part of the cost of developing GNSS should, as far as possible, be privately financed, ultimately through user contributions and through models of private/public partnership;

26. Stresses that a scale of charges must be devised that takes due account of the benefits obtained by all user groups;

27. Welcomes the proposal that cooperation at international level should be based on defined conditions and urges the Commission to ensure that EU interests in this field are safeguarded;

28. Reiterates its proposal for the creation of a European Space Council, to be established by the Commission with the participation of interested parties and relevant organisations at national and international level, which will ensure cross-application, information exchange, coordination of actions and coherence in European Union space projects;

29. Calls on the Commission to encourage the further development and structuring of the European space industry and to promote industrial applications for the latest technological breakthroughs in this field of science, such as hypersonic propulsion technology and reusable space engines;

30. Believes that incentives must be provided for industrial consortia including SMEs and SMIs for the development of high performance on-board systems able to use the full capacity of the European global navigation system, especially in air transport where GNSS will improve airspace capacity and reduce delays, as well as improving safety in sea and land traffic, and for the other existing or future applications;

31. Calls on the Commission to inform Parliament of its decisions;

32. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the ESA.