Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2011)928 - European statistical programme 2013-2017 - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2011)928 - European statistical programme 2013-2017. |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2011)928  |
| date | 21-12-2011 |
The implementation of EU policies requires comparable and reliable statistical information about the economic, social and environmental situation in the EU and its components at national and regional level. European statistics are also indispensable for Europe to be understood by the general public and for citizens to take part in the democratic process and debate about the present and future of the EU.
In recent years the European Statistical System (ESS) has been faced with a number of challenges. Firstly, the need for European statistics has been constantly increasing, and this trend is unlikely to change in future. Secondly, the nature of statistics has changed — evidence-based decision making requires statistics that meet quality criteria linked to specific purposes they are serving, and there is a growing need for complex multidimensional statistics supporting composite policy areas. Thirdly, due to the appearance of new actors on the information market, including those providing information in nearly real time, the priority for the ESS in the future is quality and, in the case of short-term statistics, timeliness in particular. Fourthly, budget constraints at both national and European level as well as the need to further reduce the burden on enterprises and citizens make the situation even more challenging. The Commission Communication to the European Parliament and the Council on the production method of EU statistics: a vision for the next decade and the ESS strategy for its implementation address all these challenges by aiming to reengineer the ways of working in the ESS in order to make it more efficient and flexible. Implementation of the Communication and the joint ESS strategy constitute the core of the European statistical programme (ESP).
Against this background, the objective of the proposal for the European Statistical Programme is to establish a comprehensive programme providing an overall framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics over the period from 2013 to 2017 while putting in place the new production method of European statistics as described in the above Communication.
The establishment of a multiannual European statistical programme has its legal basis in Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics. Under the Regulation, the European statistical programme must provide the framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics, the main fields and the objectives of the actions envisaged for a period not exceeding five years. It is to lay down priorities concerning the needs for information for the purpose of carrying out the activities of the European Union. Those needs are to be weighed against the resources needed at EU and national level to provide the required statistics and also against the response burden and the respondents’ associated costs.
The objectives of the ESP will be spelled out in detail in annual work programmes in accordance with Regulation 223/20093. The programme will be the subject of an interim progress report and a final evaluation report after the expiry of the programme period.
The current Community Statistical Programme, adopted by a European Parliament and Council Decision and covering the period from 2008 to 2012, is the seventh of its kind.
The main purpose of European statistics is to underpin the development, monitoring and evaluation of European policies with reliable, objective, comparable and coherent factual information.
The current proposal is consistent with the Union’s priorities as statistics developed, produced and disseminated under this programme will contribute to the implementation of the EU’s priority policies, such as the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and other policies addressed in the Commission’s strategic priorities for 2010-2014 (i.e. strengthened and integrated economic governance, climate change, growth and social cohesion, people’s Europe and globalisation).
Contents
- RESULTS OF CONSULTATIONS WITH THE INTERESTED PARTIES AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
- LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROPOSAL
- BUDGETARY IMPLICATION
- 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal
- 1.2. General context
- 1.3. Existing provisions in the area of the proposal
- 1.4. Consistency with other policies of the Union
- 2.1. Consultation of interested parties
- Summary of responses and how they have been taken into account
- Summary of responses of producers of European statistics
- Summary of main comments on the first draft of the ESP 2013-2017
- 2.2. collection and use of expertise
- 2.3. analysis of effects and consequences
- Option 2: ESP 2013-17 will be a repetition of the CSP 2008-2012
- Option 3: a new five-year European Statistical Programme is established
- 2.3.4. Summary of risks
- 2.3.5. The preferred option
- 3.1. Summary of the proposed action
- 3.2 Legal basis
- 3.3 Subsidiarity principle
- 3.4 Proportionality principle
- 3.5 Choice of instruments
- 5. OPTIONAL ELEMENTS
- European Economic Area
Consultation methods, main sectors targeted and general profile of respondents
Prior to the preparation of this proposal, the users of European statistics, i.e. the Directorates-General of the Commission, the European Central Bank and the European Statistical Advisory Committee[7], were consulted during July 2010 on their needs for European statistics during the period 2013-2017.
Member States, EFTA Countries and Candidate Countries have been directly involved in the preparation of the proposal. The consultation was carried out in the following way:
Firstly, the Directors’ Groups in different statistical domains, representing producers of European statistics in different areas of statistics, were consulted on their needs for the period 2013-2017 in July 2010.
Secondly, the DGINS (Directors General of the National Statistical Institutes)[8] were consulted on priorities for the period 2013-2017 during their meeting on 29-30 September 2010.
Based on the outcome of ESS consultations with stakeholders on their statistical needs for the period 2013-2017, the first draft of the ESP 2013-2017 was prepared for internal and external consultation. It was presented to the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) in May 2011. The European Statistical Advisory Committee (ESAC), the Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMFB) and the Working Group ESS Programming and Coordination were consulted in parallel.
Summary of responses of users of European statistics
A total of 14 Directorates-General of the Commission and the European Central Bank replied to Eurostat’s request for information on their needs for European statistics for 2013-2017. Most of them listed detailed requirements for statistics needed to back up European policies under their responsibility. Although all these requirements are not mentioned explicitly in the proposal, they have been carefully analysed by Eurostat and taken into account when drafting the objectives of the programme.
In all, six Directors’ Groups replied to Eurostat’s request for information on their needs for 2013-2017 (Directors’ Group on Methodology, IT Directors’ Group, Directors of Social Statistics, Directors’ meeting on regional, spatial, environment statistics and accounts, Standing Committee for Agricultural Statistics, and Business Statistics Directors’ Group). The Directors’ Groups emphasised the need to balance the increasing need for new statistics with reduced available resources. In this context, it was recommended to maximise the use of existing data instead of launching new data collections; liaise with other data providers in order to optimise the use of available information; reduce the level of data required; improve efficiency in data collection by using modern ICT technologies; analyse the consistency between different legal acts and decouple statistical instruments and users by setting up single surveys for different purposes. The need to strengthen the role of Eurostat as the coordinator of the production of statistics was also mentioned. These and other concrete comments have, to the extent possible, been taken into account when drafting the objectives of the ESP.
At its meeting on 29-30 September 2010 the DGINS endorsed the approach proposed for the ESP and the priority areas of the ESP, stressing the need for a sufficiently flexible ESP allowing concrete actions to be included in the annual programming cycle. Due to serious resource constraints at both national and European level and the need to further reduce the administrative burden, the DGINS stressed the importance of priority-setting in the next multiannual programme based on a strategy-driven approach.
The ESSC meeting in May 2011 expressed general support for the conceptual approach.
A number of delegations pointed to the level of ambition of the ESP and expressed their concerns about the gap between the resource constraints at national level and the number of new initiatives mentioned in the ESP.
Although acknowledging the need for a flexible programme, some delegations questioned the general nature and the lack of detail of the ESP and stressed the need to link it with future Annual Work Programmes.
Doubts were expressed by some delegations as to whether financing new initiatives through efficiency gains in the new production method of European statistics was realistic. Some delegates stressed the need to contemplate other ways of achieving such gains (e.g. increased priority-setting, improved efficiency, better use of administrative data, increased use of technology and sharing of good practices).
The importance of emphasising more clearly the need to reduce the response burden was underlined by some delegations and one delegation suggested strengthening the part on priority-setting by stating concrete actions.
The need for a cautious approach regarding quality labelling was expressed by many delegations; thorough discussion was called for.
Several delegations welcomed the strengthening of partnership in the ESS and beyond and stressed the importance of increased cooperation, both within the ESS and with the European System of Central Banks and international organisations.
The above points were also the main outcome of the consultation of the Working Group Programming and Coordination.
General support for the ESP was expressed by the majority of the NSIs, but reservations were voiced concerning the formulation of objective on the new method of production of European statistics and regarding the legislative policy.
Specific comments were made on particular statistical areas or clarification was requested of certain parts of the ESP.
All comments received on the draft ESP were carefully analysed by Eurostat and taken into account when preparing a revised version of the ESP 2013-2017.
In order to serve as a general and flexible planning instrument allowing new developments to be taken into account, the ESP describes in general terms the strategic objectives to be achieved and outputs to be produced for the next programming period.
The ESP reflects the commitment to the strategy-driven priority-setting approach established by Eurostat. Following this approach, the exercise on negative priorities forms an integral part of the preparation of annual work programmes and will thus be carried out for the period covered by the ESP. The ESP provides the general framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics by establishing the main fields and objectives of actions envisaged for the next five years. These objectives will be spelled out and planned in more detail in the Annual Work Programmes. In this way, a clear link is established between the ESP and the Annual Work Programmes.
The ESP is fully in line with the joint ESS strategy on the new production system already adopted by the ESSC; no new elements have been introduced, and the ESP reflects the implementation of the strategy.
In the process of preparation of the ESP, external experts have also been consulted. In particular, the European Statistical Advisory Committee (ESAC) and the Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMFB) were asked to express their opinion on the draft programme.
In its opinion on the draft programme, the European Statistical Advisory Committee addressed the issue of resource constraints and the need to continue to work on priority-setting to identify negative priorities. In this context ESAC highlighted the need to boost efficiency through greater use of technology and exploitation of data collected for other purposes while acknowledging that the different stages of maturity of statistical systems in the Member States was problematic. ESAC also stressed the importance of knowledge sharing, calling for this to include development activities to reduce the cost of new research. Furthermore, ESAC highlighted the importance of maximising data use and further integration and use of existing data.
In its opinion on the draft programme, the Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics expressed its general support for the ESP and the main priorities and objectives set for the development and coordination of monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics. The CMFB stressed the importance of integration across statistical domains and across the ESS for producing multi-purpose statistics and also highlighted the need to aim at developing statistical information on the globalisation phenomenon and the importance of increased use of administrative data and focusing more closely on the most expanding parts of the economy. In addition, the CMFB welcomed wider use of statistical matching and data linking techniques as well as standard IT tools. Finally, the CMFB stressed the importance of strengthened cooperation with the ESCB, European and international organisations through common projects and coordinated developments.
All comments received from external experts on the draft ESP were carefully analysed by Eurostat and taken into account when preparing a revised version of the programme.
An ex-ante evaluation has been prepared in accordance with the principle of sound financial management, in order to focus the programme on the need for effectiveness in achieving the objectives set and in order to incorporate budgetary constraints from the design phase of the programme and onwards.
In the context of the ex-ante evaluation, four options have been identified:
The first option considered for the ESP was to propose for adoption another five-year programme, i.e. lasting from 2013 to 2017.
The current CSP 2008-2012 includes a specific indication with regard to the duration of the next multiannual programme, namely that the period to be covered should take into account the term of office of the European Parliament. The current term of office of the European Parliament is from July 2009 to June 2014; the next term will start in July 2014 and finish in June 2019. As the current CSP 2008-2012 lasts until the end of 2012, this would mean that there would be a need to prepare a new intermediate ESP for a period of two years (for 2013-2014) or to extend the current CSP 2008-2012 until 2014.
Other possible options that could be envisaged are, thirdly, a ‘zero’ option, i.e. no ESP 2013-2017 would be prepared and adopted, and, fourthly, that in general the information would be supplied by other producers, i.e. not necessarily by the ESS.
Then in the framework of the impact assessment, after thorough consideration and analysis of the different scenarios, the number of options has been reduced to three, the effects and consequences of which have been examined in detail. These three options and their estimated impacts are the following:
Option 1: 'zero option' with no European Statistical Programme
Without a legal framework of the European Statistical Programme, European Statistics will be collected and/or produced by different Commission services in an independent way, with their own resources, with the help of the ESS institutional providers and/or private providers. Having no five-year statistical programme at European level would implicate the lack of long‑term planning which is an inherent prerequisite of the development, production and dissemination of statistical information. If no European Statistical Programme exists, it is unlikely that the objectives defined will be achieved. No legal framework for the production of European statistics would then exist and no operational budget would be provided. The users of statistics (Commission Directorates-General, the ECB, etc.) would have to produce or look for statistics themselves, in an uncoordinated and inefficient way, and there would not be a commonly agreed assurance of quality of European statistics. Without a European Statistical Programme, there will be no budget for and no overall planning of statistical production. This would also contribute to an increase in the response burden of individuals, households, enterprises and ESS institutional providers of statistics.
This option means no change in terms of statistics covered in the current Community Statistical Programme. This could be considered as the baseline scenario against which the other options can be compared. The statistics provided would correspond to policy needs of the period 2008-2012 and would not take into account new developments and needs for priority policies of the European Union such as the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and other policies addressed in the Commission's strategic priorities for 2010-2014. In addition, these statistics would be produced according to the stovepipe model[9], i.e. without taking advantage of new method of production of European statistics aiming at efficiency gains and quality improvements.
A new European Statistical Programme would be proposed for adoption covering a period of five years, i.e. lasting from 2013 to 2017. With this option European statistics will better correspond to users' needs. There will be an agreed assurance of quality and the production of statistics will be more cost-effective as a result of the new method of production. The objectives defined for the ESP 2013-2017 will be in line with the Commission's strategic priorities and will address the challenges that the European Statistical System is faced with in the coming years.
The risks related to Option 1 are high because in this case no legal framework for the production of European statistics would exist, so that their quality and the efficiency of statistical production would not be ensured. In these cases statistics would be produced in an uncoordinated way by different producers.
The risks involved in Option 2 are linked to the fact that statistics provided would correspond to partially outdated policy priorities which are produced according to the traditional method, i.e. without taking advantage of the new method of production of European statistics aiming at efficiency gains and quality improvements. The costs of inadequate statistics would be considerable.
Finally, the risks linked to Option 3 are considered to be relatively low as in this case European statistics would be produced under the established legal framework, i.e. the quality of statistics and the efficiency of the production method would be ensured as European statistics would be developed, collected and disseminated in a coordinated way.
Option 3 of a new five-year ESP 2013-2017 seems to be the best option given the fact that this is the only option that would ensure the achievement of all the objectives defined, i.e. (i) providing quality statistics that correspond to users' needs in term of coverage, timeliness, comparability and reliability; (ii) producing statistical information in a cost-effective way; and (iii) reduction of the response and administrative burden of respondents. Consequently, this is the only out of the three options that is able to offer a satisfactory response to all the challenges that the European Statistical System is facing.
According to this scenario, the next ESP will start on 1 January 2013 and end on 31 December 2017.
The proposal establishes the European statistical programme for the period from 2013 to 2017. The programme provides the framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics, the main fields and the objectives of the actions envisaged for the programming period.
Article 338 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provides the legal basis for European statistics. Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, the European Parliament and the Council adopt measures for the production of statistics where necessary for the performance of the activities of the Union. This Article sets out the requirements relating to the production of European statistics, stating that they must conform to standards of impartiality, reliability, objectivity, scientific independence, cost-effectiveness and statistical confidentiality.
The subsidiarity principle applies insofar as the proposal does not fall within the exclusive competence of the EU.
The objective of the proposed action, namely the development, production and dissemination of European statistics under the ESP 2013 to 2017, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and is therefore better achieved at EU level on the basis of a European Union legal act, because only the Commission can coordinate the necessary harmonisation of statistical information at European level in all statistical domains covered by this act, while the data collection itself can be carried out by the Member States. Consequently, the European Union may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty.
The proposal complies with the proportionality principle for the following reason(s).
In line with the principle of proportionality, this Regulation confines itself to the minimum required to achieve its objective and does not go beyond what is necessary for this purpose. The proposal sets objectives for the five-year period. These objectives are spelled out and planned in more detail in the Commission’s annual statistical work programmes, which are prepared in close cooperation with the Member States and adopted taking into account the opinion of the ESS Committee. Furthermore, new statistical requirements will be subject to specific legislation prepared with early and direct involvement of the Member States.
Proposed instrument: a Regulation.
Other means would not be appropriate for the following reason(s).
Given the objectives and content of the proposal a Regulation is the most appropriate instrument.
Total amount to be borne by the budget of the EU is 299.4 million EUR (current prices) for the duration of the programme from 2013 to 2017, of which 57.3 million EUR is covered by the programming period 2007 to 2013 and 242.1 million EUR by the programming period 2014 to 2017.
Review/revision/sunset clause
The proposal includes a review and a sunset clause.
The proposed Regulation concerns an EEA matter and should therefore extend to the European Economic Area.