Politicians approve plans for Galileo

The European Parliament and the Council of Ministers have reached an informal deal on the EU's global satellite navigation system from 2014 to 2020.

The agreement, which sets out the financing and governance framework for the Galileo system, places an increased focus on the development of applications from the satellite system to maximise its economic benefit. These applications should be used to improve road safety, agricultural planning and environmental protection, the agreement concludes.

The deal requires that the budget allocated to the program will be broken down into different project segments, which MEPs insisted will be necessary to limit the costs of Galileo.