EU officials said Friday that Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot will present on May 16 a list of alternatives for the struggling project, which is meant to compete with the US Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) navigation system.
The possibilities are expected to range from totally taking over Galileo, a system of some 30 satellites which could be operational as late as 2013, partially financing the project or abandoning it altogether, officials have said.
An industry representative said one option seriously being considered would be for the EU to finance the first 18 satellites.
One official said that completely taking it over would cost a little less than 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion) on top of the 1.5 billion euros the European Commission already allocated in the 2007-2013 budget period.
Little progress made so far
