The EU transport ministers, who were to negotiate on the seat of the
Galileo European satellite navigation system on Tuesday, have not made
a decision. Before the talks, Czech Ambassador to Brussels Jan Kohout
said the Czech Republic was prepared to block them if the new member
states were not considered as host countries. It appears that the old
member states have a secret agreement to seat Galileo in one of their
countries, Mr Kohout said.
The Galileo system is a joint initiative of the European Commission and
European Space Agency and would rival the U.S. Global Positioning
System (GPS). Prague is among the states that have made a bid to host
Galileo, which is to be launched in 2008.