Considerations on COM(2023)31 - European statistics on population and housing - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2023)31 - European statistics on population and housing. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2023)31  |
| date | January 20, 2023 |
(2) Statistics on population are an important denominator for a wide range of policy indicators and used as reference across European statistics, particularly for providing sampling frames for conducting representative surveys of persons and households, under Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council 21 .
(3) The Economic and Financial Affairs Council regularly gives a mandate to the Economic Policy Committee to assess the long-term sustainability and quality of public finances based on population projections produced by Eurostat. The population projections are also used for policy analysis in the context of the European semester. The Commission (Eurostat) should have at disposal all the necessary statistics to produce and publish population projections according to the information needs of the Union.
(4) In accordance with Article 175(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), every three years the Commission should report on the progress made towards achieving economic, social and territorial cohesion to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Regional and local data including for different territorial types such as border regions, cities and their functional urban areas, metropolitan regions, rural regions, mountain and island regions are necessary for the preparation of those reports and for the regular monitoring of demographic developments and of possible future demographic challenges in the Union territories.
(5) According to Article 16(4) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), a qualified majority of the members of the Council is defined, inter alia, based on the population of the Member States. For this purpose, pursuant to Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council 22 Member States are currently obliged to provide the Commission (Eurostat) with data on the total population at national level.
(6) In 2017, the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) endorsed the Budapest Memorandum, which stated the need for annual statistics on the size and on certain social, economic and demographic characteristics of the population and improved statistics on migration. For the observance of the principles of equality and non-discrimination of its citizens in all activities and the individual citizens’ rights as enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union 23 and Articles 10 and 19 TFEU, the Union needs reliable and comparable statistics. Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 provides a framework for data collections from samples that allow to collect data on equality and non-discrimination in so far as this is feasible on samples and to analyse some aspects of equality and discrimination by producing socio-economic indicators and information on experience of discrimination. In addition, the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) carry out specific studies and dedicated surveys that can further extend the availability of equality statistics at EU level. Future cooperation and coordination between Member States, Eurostat and these agencies should be enhanced to meet growing user demands for reliable and comprehensive data on equality and diversity in the Union.
(7) To achieve the targets of the European Green Deal, the development and evaluation of effective policies require enhanced statistics relating to the energy use and efficiency of housing, detailed geographical data on the distribution of the population as well as deeper studies of the relationship between population and housing. With the COVID-19 pandemic the need for reliable, high frequency and timely statistics on deaths in the Union was manifested. While data needs were met with a voluntary data collection from Member States to the Commission (Eurostat), the Union needs an adequate mechanism for mandatory collection of such data within the European Statistical System (ESS) with the necessary frequency, timeliness and detail.
(8) United Nations Economic and Social Council, on the proposal of the United Nations Statistical Commission, every ten years adopts resolutions regarding the World population and housing census and invites UN Member States to conduct population and housing censuses in line with international and regional recommendations and by upholding the integrity, reliability, accuracy and value of the population and housing census results. European statistics on population and housing should take into account these recommendations.
(9) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council 24 established a legal framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics, based on common statistical principles. That Regulation sets out the quality criteria and refers to the need to minimise the response burden on survey respondents and to contribute to the more general objective of reducing the administrative burden. A new legal framework for European statistics on population and housing should implement the quality criteria set out in that Regulation and facilitate burden reduction by embracing effective and efficient reuse of available data sources including administrative data.
(10) The evaluation of existing statistics 25 on the population and housing censuses in the Union, statistics on international migration flows, migrant stocks and acquisitions of citizenship and demography statistics has shown that the current legal framework comprising Regulations (EC) No 862/2007 26 , (EC) No 763/2008 27 and (EU) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council has led to significant overall improvements of statistics compared to the 2005 situation without the current legal framework in force. That framework, however, has potential for a lack of coherence and comparability, which should be addressed.
(11) The evolving demographic situation and recent migration trends have created demands for timelier, more frequent, and more detailed European statistics on population, vital events and housing including details of topics or groups that have become politically and societally relevant during the past decade. In addition, the existing legal framework is not flexible enough to adapt to evolving policy needs and to enable the use of new sources at national and Union level. Furthermore, the structure of the existing legal framework in the form of three separate regulations, adopted at different times, has led to intrinsic inconsistencies of the statistics. Finally, as Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 will cease to apply on 31 August 2028, a new legal basis is required for the demographic statistics collected under that Regulation. It is therefore necessary to replace the current legal framework by a new, more coherent and flexible one that should amend relevant parts of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and repeal Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013.
(12) Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 covers statistics on the country of citizenship and place of birth of the resident population (migrant stocks), on changes of residence between countries (international migration flows) and on acquisitions of citizenship of the resident population, whereas the other statistics under that Regulation concern administrative and judicial procedures relating to immigration legislation and international protection. Statistics under Article 3 are therefore closely linked and should be consistent with the statistics on the resident population and its demographic changes provided under Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013. To ensure intrinsic consistency, these statistics should therefore be integrated into a single legal basis while deleting Article 3 from Regulation (EC) No 862/2007.
(13) The rapidly changing nature of some population and housing characteristics, in particular in relation to demographic and migration phenomena, and the corresponding need for a prompt targeting and adaptation of policies means that there is a need for statistics to be available on a timely basis soon after the reference period. The periodicity and timeliness of statistics should be therefore tangibly advanced.
(14) Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council 28 establishes a grid-based methodology for the definition of territorial typologies based on the population distribution by one kilometre square grid cells. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1799 29 as a temporary direct statistical action accompanying the 2021 population and housing censuses provides for key census outputs on a pan-European one kilometre square grid. A legal framework should ensure the continued dissemination of georeferenced population statistics based on grids and its extension to housing statistics.
(15) Territorial units and statistical grids should be defined in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003.
(16) For geocoding of location, the Statistical Units theme in accordance with Annex III to Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 30 should be used.
(17) The current legal framework for European statistics on population and housing needs to be updated to ensure that the presently separate statistical processes are adequately integrated in a common framework which allows the ESS to respond effectively to new information needs of the Union and encourage statistical innovations. Statistical output must enhance to remain relevant in the face of demographic, migratory, social and economic changes in society.
(18) The enhanced regular (annual and infra-annual) statistics on population and housing based on administrative sources should be complemented with information from coordinated population and housing censuses in the Union conducted every ten years in accordance with the UN Principles and Recommendations. Equally important, population and housing censuses provide a unique opportunity for official statistics to be visible, both in terms of operations and results.
(19) The Union censuses should become more cost-effective through making full use of the rich set of administrative data available across the Member States or a combination of different sources including sources related to the Internet of Things (IoT) and provision of digital services. They should be also used to re-establish the demographic baseline and include surveys of the coverage of administrative data sources.
(20) Member States and the Commission (Eurostat) should have sustainable access to the widest possible range of data sources to produce European statistics on population and housing of high quality and in a cost-effective manner. In this regard, it is crucial that national statistical authorities get timely access and are able to use promptly the administrative data owned by public administrations at national, regional and local level, in accordance with Article 17a of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. For example, statistics on energy efficiency of buildings can be based on administrative data relating to the issuance of energy certificates of buildings under Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council 31 . The national statistical institutes also need to be involved in decisions concerning the design and redevelopment of relevant administrative data sources to ensure that they can be further reused for compilation of official statistics.
(21) In recent years, comprehensive Union level databases and interoperability systems related to residence, vital events, citizenship and migratory and cross-border movements of population such as those established under Regulations (EU) 910/2014 32 , (EU) 2018/1724 33 , (EU) 2019/817 34 and (EU) 2019/818 35 of the European Parliament and of the Council have been developed. They provide valuable information that can be re-used for the compilation and quality assurance of European statistics on population and housing.
(22) In that respect, it is essential to enable the Commission (Eurostat) to re-use these data for statistical purposes only while strictly applying rules of data protection and data privacy, as laid down in Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council 36 . This should apply in particular to the statistical data stored in the central repository for reporting and statistics (CRRS) in accordance with the purpose of the CRRS set out in Article 39(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/817 as well as in Article 39(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/818 and in accordance with the Regulations establishing the systems whose statistical data is stored in the CRRS. In particular, considering that the CRRS is to provide cross-system statistical data and analytical reporting for policy, operational and data quality purposes, the Commission (Eurostat) should cooperate with the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA), to the extent possible, with a view of providing the required European statistics.
(23) Privately held data can improve the coverage, timeliness and crisis response capacities of European statistics on population and housing or to enable statistical innovation. Such data have the potential to complement existing demography and migration statistics, bring statistical innovation and even serve for production of early estimates. The national statistical institutes and other competent national authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) should have access to and use such data.
(24) To ensure the comparability of European statistics on population and housing at Union level, it is essential that common population definitions are used and implemented in a harmonised way. To implement the single harmonised population base consistently, robustly and cost-effectively while ensuring timely results, statistical methods and modelling techniques such as ‘signs of life’ and ‘rate of stay’ need to be applied.
(25) Member States should provide their data and metadata in electronic form in an appropriate technical format to be provided by the Commission. International standards, such as the Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX) initiative, and statistical or technical standards elaborated within the Union, such as metadata and validation standards or European Interoperable Framework principles, should be used to the extent relevant for European statistics on population and housing. The ESSC has endorsed ESS standards for metadata and quality reports, in accordance with Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. Those standards are to contribute to the harmonisation of quality assurance and reporting under this Regulation and should be therefore introduced.
(26) European statistics on population and housing should meet the quality criteria on relevance, accuracy, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability and coherence specified in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. Their quality should be enhanced as far as the needs of the Union evolve. Appropriate results from the quality assessment carried out by the Commission (Eurostat) should be publicly available to statistics users. Access to these statistics should be free and easy through Commission (Eurostat) databases on its website and in its publications.
(27) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 includes rules on the provision of data from the Member States to the Commission (Eurostat) and on the use thereof, including on the transmission and protection of confidential data. Measures taken in accordance with this Regulation should ensure that confidential data are provided and used exclusively for statistical purposes in accordance with Articles 21 and 22 of that Regulation.
(28) The Commission (Eurostat) is to respect the statistical confidentiality of the data provided by Member States pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. With regard to the population statistics collected under this Regulation, a harmonised approach to ensuring high quality of European aggregates and avoiding the disclosure of confidential data in statistical outputs should be developed, avoiding as far as possible the suppression of data.
(29) Data sources available at national level are not always able to capture accurately phenomena related to the free movement of persons in the Union, the access of persons to cross-border services on demographic vital events and the exercise of persons rights to buy and own housing property used as primary, holiday and secondary accommodation across the Union. There are also asymmetries in the bilateral migration flows and difficulties to measure population groups, for instance among the migrant, homeless or stateless population. Therefore, data sharing for the purposes of compiling statistics on population and migration and ensuring their quality should be reinforced and considered as yet another data source. Such reinforced data sharing may cover a wide range of relevant data, from data that clearly do not allow for the identification of statistical units, either directly or indirectly, to data potentially subject to statistical confidentiality requirements. Member States should, in their own interest and in the interest of the other Member States, participate in data sharing activities, including in pilot projects assessing innovative secure solutions. The Commission (Eurostat) should also establish a secure infrastructure to facilitate such data sharing while ensuring all necessary safeguards.
(30) When data sharing entails processing of personal data according to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council 37 or Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, the principles of purpose limitation, data minimisation, storage limitation and integrity and confidentiality should be fully applied. In particular, data sharing mechanisms based on privacy enhancing technologies that are specifically designed to implement these principles should be preferred over direct data transmission.
(31) The sharing of confidential data should take place only on the basis of a request justifying the necessity to share these data in accordance with Chapter V of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.
(32) In the longer term, the collaborative efforts in the European Statistical System to mitigate cross-border statistical quality issues, such as double counting of Union residents enjoying freedom of movement, should profit as much as possible from single digital identifiers established at Union level by Regulation (EU) No 910/2014
(33) This Regulation is without prejudice to Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725 and Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. 38 Within their respective scope of application, the latter Regulations are to apply to the processing of personal data under this Regulation.
(34) European statistics on population and housing should evolve to take into account emerging data needs stemming from changing policy priorities, as well as changes in the demographic, migratory, social or economic situation in the Union. The Commission (Eurostat) should undertake pilot studies assessing the feasibility of the adaptations concerned as appropriate and should take into account aspects such as costs and administrative burdens on Member States and the availability of appropriate data sources.
(35) In order to take account of demographic, economic and social trends as well as technological developments, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission in order to amend the list, description , periodicities and reference times of detailed topics covered by European statistics on population and housing; to update the periodicities and reference times in the Annex to this Regulation and to specify the information to be provided by Member States on an ad hoc basis. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making 39 . In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.
(36) In accordance with the Financial Regulation, Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council 40 and Council Regulations (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 41 , (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 42 and (EU) 2017/1939 43 , the financial interests of the Union are to be protected by means of proportionate measures, including measures relating to the prevention, detection, correction and investigation of irregularities, including fraud, to the recovery of funds lost, wrongly paid or incorrectly used, and, where appropriate, to the imposition of administrative penalties. In particular, in accordance with Regulations (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 and (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has the power to carry out administrative investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections, with a view to establishing whether there has been fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is empowered, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/1939, to investigate and prosecute criminal offences affecting the financial interests of the Union as provided for in Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council 44 . In accordance with the Financial Regulation, any person or entity receiving Union funds is to fully cooperate in the protection of the financial interests of the Union, grant the necessary rights and access to the Commission, OLAF, the Court of Auditors and, in respect of those Member States participating in enhanced cooperation pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2017/1939, the EPPO, and ensure that any third parties involved in the implementation of Union funds grant equivalent rights.
(37) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation with regard to the specification of data and metadata requirements, technical formats and procedures for data and metadata provision, content and structure of quality reports, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and the Council 45 .
(38) Where the implementation of this Regulation, or of delegated and implementing acts adopted pursuant thereto, would require major adaptations to the national statistical system of a Member State for data provision with periodicity of less than 10 years, the Commission should be able, in duly justified cases and for a limited period of time, to grant derogations to the Member States concerned.
(39) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the systematic production of European statistics on population and housing, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, for reasons of consistency and comparability, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures to achieve that objective, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 TEU. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.
(40) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and delivered an opinion on [xxx].
(41) The European Statistical System Committee has been consulted.