Abstract: Europe is building its own global navigation satellite system, providing a highly accurate, guaranteed global positing service under civilian control. It will be compatible and interoperable with GPS. By offering dual frequencies as standard, Galileo will deliver real-time positioning accuracy down to the meter range which is unprecedented for a publicly available system. It will guarantee availability of the service under all but the most extreme circumstances and will inform users within seconds of a failure of any satellite. This makes Galileo suitable for applications where safety is crucial. The presentation will address Galileo architecture and implementation aspects along with technology developments and will provide an overview of the program status, including anecdotes from the multi-national political process entailed by attempting a technical undertaking of such magnitude within the European Union. Dr. Wilfried Bornemann is responsible for Galileo Coordination at EADS Astrium in Munich, Germany, which is the prime contractor of the Galileo space segment for the ongoing development phase.