Malta foregoes bid to host Galileo

Malta has officially informed the European Commission that it no longer wants to host the headquarters of the EU’s new satellite navigation system, known as Galileo, four years after it submitted its official bid.

A Commission spokesman confirmed Malta officially withdrew its bid during a meeting of EU Telecommunication Ministers held in Brussels.

Other member states who were also trying to win this prestigious agency also withdrew their bids, including Italy, France and the UK, according to the Commission.

“There are now only two member states vying for the Galileo Supervisory Authority – Czech Republic and Slovenia. We hope a decision on where the headquarters are going to be hosted will be taken soon,” he said.

Known officially as the GNNS-Galileo Supervisory Authority, its main function is to manage the European satellite navigation programmes and controlling the use of the funds allocated to them.

Government sources told The Times that various factors had been taken into consideration before the final decision to withdraw Malta’s bid was taken.

Malta’s chances of hosting this prestigious agency were “close to nil” as the island had not managed to garner the much needed support of other member states.

“Unofficially, Galileo was always earmarked for either the Czech Republic or Slovenia and although Malta has managed to make a very good proposal, including the use of the former British Forces facility in Dingli, it still proved to be an uphill struggle,” the sources said.

Another important development, which has continued to narrow Malta’s chances, was last year’s EU decision to allocate the headquarters of the European Asylum Support Agency to Malta.

“Although Galileo is more prestigious, the fact the island has an agency means the focus will shift to other new member states which still do not host an agency. This is the way the EU works, so even had Malta pursued its bid, it would have never got Galileo,” the EU official said.

The issue of where EU agencies should be hosted is always a bone of contention as apart from prestige, agencies normally mean job opportunities and income for the local community.

The agency headquarters in Malta, which will be hosted in a new building in the Grand Harbour, close to the Viset terminal, is expected to start operating by the end of this year.

During the first three years of operation it is expected to recruit some 100 employees and has been given a budget of some €50 million, with much of it set to be pumped into the Maltese economy.

Since joining the EU in 2004, Malta had failed twice in attempts to host an EU agency.

The first for the Border Control Agency (Frontex) which eventually went to Warsaw, while Barcelona had managed to outdo Malta in its bid for the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean.