Former EU competition commissioner Karel van Miert has urged the Netherlands not to be small-minded about the tripling in costs for the European satellite navigation system Galileo.

Finance minister Wouter Bos said last week he had his ‘suspicions’ about the project, which is now set to cost €3.6bn. No Dutch companies are involved in its development.
Van Miert told the Financieele Dagblad it was time EU member states stopped expecting their companies to be awarded contracts if they part-funded projects.