07/06/2017 (Agence Europe) – On Tuesday 6 June, the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU and the representatives of the European Parliament reached an inter-institutional political agreement on the proposed regulation extending until 2020 the European Statistical Programme. It took the European legislator just two negotiating sessions to approve an envelope of €218 million over three years, to allow the European Statistical Programme to continue to provide statistics on key areas of activity (economy, employment, environment, energy, transport, etc.) and to adapt to new forms of data production. The Maltese Presidency stressed the importance of social indicators on poverty, the risk of social exclusion and gender equality. The aim of the programme is to provide data to evaluate compliance with the objectives of the 'EUROPE 2020' strategy and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. (MB)