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2012 discharge: European GNSS Agency (GSA)

2013/2231(DEC)

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI) in which it recommended the European Parliament to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European GNSS Agency in respect of the implementation of the Authority's budget for the financial year 2012.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2012 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members approved the closure of the Agency’s accounts. They made, however, a number of recommendations that needed to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies.

  • Budget and financial management: Members noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2012 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 100% and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 99.99%.
  • Commitments and carryovers: Members noted that the carry-over of committed appropriations was relatively high for administrative expenditure at EUR 1.7 million (38%). This was partly due to events beyond the Authority's control, such as the relocation of its seat to Prague in September 2012 (EUR 400 000) and the setting-up of the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre (EUR 400 000) which necessitated the provision of certain goods and services in the last quarter of the year.
  • Prevention and management of conflicts of interests and transparency: Members regretted that the Agency did not answer questionnaire on the management and prevention of conflicts of interests; urges the Agency to report to the discharge authority on the actions it has implemented to become in line with the Court of Auditors' Special Report No 15/2012 and Parliament's recommendations that all agencies develop and implement comprehensive independence policies and procedures, inter alia, by establishing a breach of trust mechanism and clear penalties, or by changing those already in place.

Members also made a series of observations on transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures as well as comments on internal controls.