Brussels, 06/12/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission will shortly give the Global Navigation System (GNSS) Supervisory Authority (GSA), which monitors the implementation of the Galileo programme, the names of the three candidates for the post of Executive Director. According to well-informed sources, an Italian, a French national and a Briton are in the running: their names are currently on the table of Administration Commissioner Maroš Ševfèoviè, who will put them to the College of Commissioners. The GSA is an EU agency, provisionally based in Brussels, though its headquarters could be located definitively in Prague (member states have yet to come to a decision). The three candidates have already sat a series of assessment tests, with the Italian and French national coming out well ahead of the Briton. Last week, a letter from French Secretary General of the European Space Agency (ESA) Jean-Jacques Dordain to European Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani revealed that the first two satellites of the Galileo system should be put into orbit by August 2011. The launch of two further satellites is scheduled for the start of 2012 and the contracts in the two remaining markets will be awarded in the first half of 2011 (see EUROPE 10270). (Gp/transl.rt)