Brussels, 24/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - With the adoption of the report by Jean-Paul Gauzès (EPP-ED, France) on amendments to Regulation 3605/93 concerning the quality of statistical data in the context of excessive deficit procedure, the Parliament calls for visits of the national statistics institutions to come under the responsibility of Eurostat alone. The regulation refers to the first two axes of the strategy set out by the Commission in its communication of 22 December 2004 (EUROPE 8856), namely: to complete the legislative provision for the verification of data and to strengthen human, financial and operational resources of Eurostat. Consulted for opinion, the Parliament approves the spirit of the proposed amendment, but hopes details will be given on the setting in place of detailed Euorostat visits, which should not comprise private experts or Commission representatives other than Eurostat. MEPs also hope to be informed on the result of the simple and more detailed inquiries, as the Economic and Financial Committee will be. In the absence of details on the third stage of the Commission's strategy, geared to European minimum norms on the institutional structure of the statistics authorities, the rapporteur considers it difficult to make a general assessment on strengthening statistical governance.