The European Commission provides European statistics of “generally sufficient quality and fit for use by policy makers”, businesses and the public, the European Court of Auditors said in a report published on Tuesday 29 November.
Nevertheless, the EU auditors identified several “weaknesses” in the production of these statistics. In their view, stakeholders should be consulted more on priorities in this area. And the composition of the European Statistical Advisory Committee (ESAC) should be reviewed to include civil society, NGOs and international organisations.
The Court also reports “gaps” in important statistical areas such as labour, business and health. Some Member States, such as France, have been late in providing certain health statistics, for example.
Another shortcoming noted by the Court of Auditors is the lack of verification powers of the European Statistical Office (Eurostat), which is not allowed to check the reliability of Member States’ data on labour and population, for example. These statistics form the basis for various EU contributions, including funding for economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The allocation of EU funds based on this data could therefore be inaccurate”, the Court said in a statement.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/4cg (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)