Brussels, 06/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - In the summer, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) moved from Brussels to Prague, and was officially opened on Thursday 6 September by EU Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani in a ceremony attended by the Czech transport minister Pavel Dobes. GSA is the first EU agency to be opened in Eastern Europe and is expected to become increasingly important at the years go by. GSA ensures the security of satellites and prepares ground for new GNSS (satellite radio navigation) products and is responsible for a number of implementation tasks (market development, for example) for the European Satellite Navigation programmes Galileo and EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service), which are managed by the European Commission. The Commission has suggested gradually transferring operational responsibility for the GNSS Programmes from the Commission itself to the GSA during the next Multiannual Financial Framework (the budget for 2014-2020). The current GSA budget, €12.75 million, and its workforce of 60 will be increased over the next few years as the Prague centre grows. Commissioner Tajani has high hopes for the GSA, tweeting that its main task right now is no less than supplying Galileo services by the end of 2013! (MD/transl.fl)