Galileo not very magnifico!

This blog has been reporting for quite a while about the waste of money that the EU's Galileo satellite-navigation system is. It was devised as a way of competing with the Americans and has failed to do anything other than swallow EU money.

The latest news per The Telegraph is that:

'Galileo, conceived as Europe’s answer to the US Global Positioning System, has been beset by delays, cost overruns and funding disputes ever since it was dreamed up a decade ago. '

Is there anything the EU does well? Apart from feather its officials and politicians' nests, that is.

Meanwhile I note that The Register reports the "No shit Sherlock" news that:

'the CEO of a German firm building satellites for the Galileo satnav project has been fired for apparently telling US diplomats that Galileo is a waste of taxpayers money and primarily useful to the French military.

Norwegian paper Aftenposten, trawling through the endless piles of cables, reported last Thursday that Berry Smutny – CEO of German space firm OHB-System – supposedly told American diplomats in 2009 that in his view "Galileo is a stupid idea that primarily serves French interests" – particularly French military interests.'

Hard to believe isn't it? The Register article also gives a very good background on the Galileo project.