Malta proposes Swatar for Galileo seat

The former government computer centre in Swatar, limits of Dingli, is the government's choice to host the EU Galileo Supervisory Authority, if the island's bid is successful.

Sources close to the European Commission told The Times that the site being proposed is considered to fulfil all the conditions set by the EU, particularly those related to security.

The Galileo Agency, already functioning temporarily from Brussels, will be controlling a new EU satellite system scheduled to come on stream in 2008 and will consist of 30 satellites and the associated ground infrastructure.

"As this agency is one of utmost importance in terms of security, we wanted the member states participating in this bid to offer us a site which can be sealed off from other buildings and surrounding areas. The Maltese government is proposing a site which was originally built to be utilised by the British military and we are very happy with the location," the sources said.

Used during the British period as a telecommunications centre, Swatar was later converted into a government computer centre and operated as such until the early 1990s. Since then, the place has been used for IT-related training purposes, particularly by the Department of Education. The choice of the seat of this new EU agency will be discussed next week during a meeting of telecommunications ministers in Brussels.

However, no final decision is expected to be taken as many member states are currently lobbying to host this prestigious agency and no candidate has yet achieved consensus.

Ten member states have submitted their formal application. However, there are only three applications from the new member states which apart from Malta include Slovenia and the Czech Republic. This could be advantageous for Malta as an informal agreement stipulates that preference should be given to a new member state which does not yet host an EU agency.

All candidate countries are embarking on a robust lobbying strategy in a bid to win support for their candidature. Malta's lobbying campaign is being coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A final agreement will need the unanimous support of all member states.

Sources close to the Foreign Ministry told The Times the bid is still an uphill struggle for Malta, although a lot of lobbying is taking place.

This is the second time, since its accession, that Malta is competing to host an EU agency. The first attempt was for the border control agency Frontex but Warsaw was preferred.