Last year the EU Commission decided that it would exclude the UK and companies within the country from the EU’s satellite navigation system project, Galileo. The move by the EU was largely called an attack on the UK because of Brexit by those who supported Leave and labelled an inevitability by those who supported to Remain. It could be classed as both aspects of an inevitability and an unnecessary attack on the UK.
However, recent reports are showing that there are divisions within the EU over the handling of the decision to exclude the UK, with multiple nations become sympathetic to the British cause.
The UK, EU and Galileo
Galileo was the response by the EU to challenge the US global position system (GPS) and will have both civilian and military use, it is expected to be complete in 2020 after it was commissioned in 2003. It has been claimed that blocking British companies will add £1 billion to the bill and risk both sides of the channel’s security.
Since then the UK is threatening to demand the return of more than €1bn of its contributions to EU space research unless Brussels backtracks.
This is a blow for the EU as they have been relatively in agreement over matters concerning the UK and Brexit. But the decision by the Commission has raised eyebrows because of the way the UK has been treated.
Previously, when Brussels first announced that they would be excluding Britain from the projected in the post-Brexit plans, with British tenders being excluded from lucrative tenders, the government cried foul. But despite the hullaballoo over the situation and the clear motivation to get at Britain for leaving, results like these are going to be inevitable as Britain is leaving the EU, which is an act of closing the country off. Furthermore, the project was initially resisted by the UK because it could potentially rival the US GPS system despite them saying it will be a vital back-up system.