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European Parliament
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2009 discharge: European GNSS Supervisory Authority GSA

2010/2183(DEC)

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.