“Europeans recognise that GALILEO could have a big impact on their life in the
future and they expect greater effort at European level to develop this technology”,
said European commission Vice-President, Jacques Barrot, in charge of Transport.
“Therefore, we will continue the work with Member States and industry to complete
this major European innovation project and get the most out of our investments.”
The Eurobarometer survey questioned around 26 000 citizens all over the
European Union on a range of issues linked to GALILEO, and satellite positioning
systems in general. The survey has revealed valuable information about EU
citizen’s knowledge, attitudes and perceptions related to this new technology.
The responses clearly show that most Europeans are highly positive about
this major European project. The principal conclusions are as follows:
The survey indicates that the majority of Europeans (68%) are familiar
with the concept of satellite-based navigation – with 20% currently using
such a system and 15% planning to use one in the future. An overwhelming
majority – 80% of respondents – consider that the European Union should
set up its own independent system, while only 12% think that there is no
need for such a development. 40% have already heard about the European
GALILEO project. This ratio reaches 60% in Germany and Luxembourg.
In each Member State, the majority of respondents support the idea of having the
EU secure the missing funds. Overall, 63% of respondents consider that the EU
should secure the necessary funds to complete the GALILEO project as soon as
possible and only 23% are opposed to increase investments. A slight majority also
agrees that the abandonment or significant delay of the GALILEO project would
harm the image of the European Union (44% consider it harmful while 41% not).
Last but not least, the survey reveals that 71% of European citizens “rather agree” that the EU launches globally important technology
projects, even if they require high investments, and only 18% “rather
disagree” with EU involvement in such resource-intensive projects. |
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