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.

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.