European Union countries, excluding Spain, have reached agreement on the Galileo satellite navigation project, after lengthy talks on how the work would be divided up, the EU presidency announced.
Galileo, a navigation system designed to have 30 satellites, has endured years of questions about its viability and cost despite European Commission arguments that it would create thousands of jobs and ensure independence from the US service.
The Commission had said if agreement was not reached by the end of the year it would essentially have been dead.
Transport ministers met today to try to agree on an industrial plan for the project against a backdrop of differences over which countries would get bits of the infrastructure.
Galileo's crisis accelerated earlier this year after a consortium of companies charged with building it pulled out because of political squabbles and reluctance to foot the bill.
Supporters of Galileo say it is an essential technological platform for the European aerospace and communications industries.
Critics question whether it will ever be economically viable given the dominant position of the US GPS system and similar projects planned by Russia and China.
