PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European GNSS Supervisory Authority in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2009.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2011/606/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European GNSS Supervisory Authority for the financial year 2009.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Executive Director of the European GNSS Supervisory Authority for the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2009.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 10 May 2011 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 10/05/2011).

A parallel decision, adopted on the same day, approves the closure of this Agency's accounts.

The European Parliament adopted by 527 votes to 85, with 30 abstentions a decision on discharge to be granted to the Executive Director of the European GNSS Supervisory Authority in respect of the implementation of the Authority’s budget for the financial year 2009.

Noting that the Authority’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament approves the closure of the Authority’s accounts. However, it makes a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted (in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies - see DEC/2010/2271 ):

budgetary and financial management: Parliament welcomes the fact that most of the activities and assets related to the EGNOS and Galileo programmes were transferred to the Commission in December 2009 and notes that the remaining part of the activities and assets were to be transferred in 2010. It also notes, like the Court of Auditors, that there were irregularities in the grants procedure for the Framework Programme/Galileo/Call 1 (EUR 17.5 million). It also deplores the fact that the final budget published by the Authority on 31 March 2010 did not reflect the final budget for 2009 approved by the Administrative Board and did not include its revenue and calls on the Authority to remedy the situation; human resources: Parliament criticises the deficiencies in staff selection procedures which put at risk the transparency of these procedures and which was remarked upon by the Court of Auditors in its report. It calls on the Authority to remedy the situation by improving its selection procedures and also stresses the need to remedy deficiencies which infringe the principle of equal treatment in the application of the eligibility criteria in recruitment procedures open to both internal and external candidates.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Georgios STAVRAKAKIS (S&D, EL) on discharge to be granted to the Executive Director of the European GNSS Supervisory Authority in respect of the implementation of the Authority’s budget for the financial year 2009.

Noting that the Authority’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, MEPs approve the closure of the Authority’s accounts. However, they make a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies (see DEC/2010/2271 ):

budgetary and financial management: Members welcome the fact that most of the activities and assets related to the EGNOS and Galileo programmes were transferred to the Commission in December 2009 and note that the remaining part of the activities and assets were to be transferred in 2010. They also note like the Court of Auditors that there were irregularities in the grants procedure for the Framework Programme/Galileo/Call 1 (EUR 17.5 million). They also deplore that the final budget published by the Authority on 31 March 2010 did not reflect the final budget for 2009 approved by the Administrative Board and did not include its revenue and call on the Authority to remedy the situation; human resources : Members criticise the deficiencies in staff selection procedures which put at risk the transparency of these procedures, and remarked upon by the Court of Auditors in its report. The call on the Authority to remedy the situation by improving its selection procedures and also stress the need to remedy deficiencies which infringe the principle of equal treatment in the application of the eligibility criteria in recruitment procedures open to both internal and external candidates; internal audit : Members acknowledge that the Internal Audit Service (IAS) conducted its internal audit in November 2007 and its follow-up audits in October 2008 and December 2009. They note that the two remaining important IAS recommendations yet to be implemented relate to sensitive posts and job descriptions.

Based on the observations contained in the revenue and expenditure account and the balance sheet of the European Global Navigation Satellite System Supervisory Authority (GNSS Authority) for the financial year 2009, as well as on the Court of Auditor’s report and the Authority’s replies to the Court’s observations, the Council recommends that the Parliament grant the Executive Director of the Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2009.

The Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, on the one hand, the Authority's annual accounts present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position as at 31 December 2009 and the results of operations and cash-flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Authority's Financial Regulation, and that, on the other hand, the underlying transactions for the financial year ended on 31 December 2009 are, in all material respects, legal and regular.

However, the Council considers that observations made in the Court of Auditor’s report call for a certain number of observations to be taken into account when granting discharge, particularly on the following points:

recruitment procedures : the Council regrets that the Authority has put at risk the transparency of recruitment procedures by neither establishing the weightings of the selection criteria and the thresholds to be met in order to be invited to written tests and interviews nor preparing the questions for written tests and interviews before the pre-selections. The Council notes with concern that the Authority has, at least once, infringed the principle of equal treatment in the application of eligibility criteria in recruitment procedures open to both internal and external candidates; grant procedures : the Council notes further that for one grants procedure the Authority did not publish and check the exclusion criteria and, as regards the eligibility criteria, did not systematically evidence its verification of all criteria in one of the topics; budget presentation : the Council notes that the Authority's finally published budget for 2009 did not reflect the one approved by its Administrative Board and that it did not include revenue. In this respect, it expects improvements in the Authority's budget for 2010.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Court of Auditors of its report on the annual accounts of the European Global Navigation Satellite System Supervisory Authority (GNSS).

CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on it by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court of Auditors, in the context of the discharge procedure, addresses to the European Parliament and the Council a Statement of Assurance on the reliability of the annual accounts, as well as of the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them of each EU institution, body or agency, on the basis of an external, independent audit.

This audit also covered the annual accounts of the European Global Navigation Satellite System Supervisory Authority (GNSS).

In the Court’s opinion, the Authority’s annual accounts presented “fairly, in all material respects”, its financial position as of 31 December 2009 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation.

The Court also stated that the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Authority for the financial year ended 31 December 2009 were, “in all material respects, legal and regular ”.

The report again confirmed that the Authority’s 2009 final budget amounted to EUR 44.4 million of which EUR 7.4 million was the operating subsidy from the Commission and EUR 37 million was operational funds from the Commission. The Authority employed 35 agents during the financial year.

The report also included comments on the Agency’s budgetary and financial management, together with the Agency’s replies. The main comments are as follows:

The Court’s comments:

lack of transparency in recruitment procedures; for the ‘Framework Programme 7/Galileo/Call 1’ grants procedure e (EUR 17.5 million) the exclusion criteria were not published and checked; . the final budget published by the Authority on 31 March 2010 did not reflect the final budget for 2009 approved by the Administrative Board.

The Authority’s replies :

transparency of the recruitment procedures was ensured, even if the thresholds the candidates had to meet for being invited to the written tests and interviews were established after the beginning of the evaluation process; the Authority has followed the rules defined by the Commission with regard to the grants procedure; . the budget published at the end of March reflected an amendment adopted by the Administrative Board in December 2009 (and did not affect the revenue side).

Lastly, the Court of Auditor’s report contained a summary of the Authority’s activities in 2009 in the following areas:

support to the European Commission in the implementation of the EGNOS and Galileo programmes; strengthening Galileo and EGNOS Systems Security; Market development with EGNOS market entry (particularly in aviation, agriculture, road,) and development of international activities (Latin America, Israel, China, Africa), information and outreach; research and development.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009, as part of the 2009 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the European Global Navigation Satellite System Supervisory Authority (GNSS).

CONTENT : this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 129 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU’s General Budget, including the European Supervisory Authority (GNSS).

In 2009, the tasks and budget of this Authority were as follows:

description of the Authority’s tasks: the GNSS Supervisory Authority, located in Brussels, was set up by Council Regulation (EC) No 1321/2004 . Its main task is to manage the public interests relating to the European GNSS programmes and to act as the regulatory authority for the programme during the deployment and operational phases of the Galileo Programme. Regulation (EC) No 683/2008 of the European Parliament and the Council reduced the responsibilities of the Authority to the control of the security of Galileo systems and to the preparation of their commercialisation. GNSS’ budget for the 2009 financial year: the Authority’s budget for 2009 amounted to EUR 44.4 millions (compared to EUR 125 millions the previous year). The number of staff employed by the Agency at the end of the year was 35 as compared with 52 the previous year.

The complete version of the Agency’s final accounts may be found at the following address: www.gsa.europa.eu

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009, as part of the 2009 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the European Global Navigation Satellite System Supervisory Authority (GNSS).

CONTENT : this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2009 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 129 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU’s General Budget, including the European Supervisory Authority (GNSS).

In 2009, the tasks and budget of this Authority were as follows:

description of the Authority’s tasks: the GNSS Supervisory Authority, located in Brussels, was set up by Council Regulation (EC) No 1321/2004 . Its main task is to manage the public interests relating to the European GNSS programmes and to act as the regulatory authority for the programme during the deployment and operational phases of the Galileo Programme. Regulation (EC) No 683/2008 of the European Parliament and the Council reduced the responsibilities of the Authority to the control of the security of Galileo systems and to the preparation of their commercialisation. GNSS’ budget for the 2009 financial year: the Authority’s budget for 2009 amounted to EUR 44.4 millions (compared to EUR 125 millions the previous year). The number of staff employed by the Agency at the end of the year was 35 as compared with 52 the previous year.

The complete version of the Agency’s final accounts may be found at the following address: www.gsa.europa.eu