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.