Leave it to that nest of fat bureaucrats called the European Union to fix what a consortium of eight European companies have not been able to pull off: Galileo, a former excommunicated astronomer turned global positioning system, is in a "dead-end street".

The 30-satellite system promised extreme accuracy to everyone around the world without the limitations of the US-government-controlled GPS. According to German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, now it "is going through a deep and grave crisis" which, for those of you outside the Old Continent, means: "we are in deep shit."

The companies in charge of running the show have been unsuccessful and, with only one test satellite in orbit and the second one still grounded with technical troubles, it looks like the European taxpayer (that's me, for one) will have to pony up those funny colored bills to finance their incompetence. Quite frankly, I didn't need a GPS to tell me that we are completely lost this side of the pond. – Jesus Diaz

Galileo system 'in a deep crisis' [BBC News]

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