Brussels, 01/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - Unveiling the draft regulation on Community statistics on migration and international protection on Thursday, adopted in the summer using the written procedure, Commissioner Frattini said: 'Sound policies must be based on reliable data. Our knowledge of the migratory situation in the European Union is now fragmented and incomplete.' The regulation aims to provide legal clarity and certainty for the collection of migration statistics, along with information about residence permits, refugees and illegal entry.
In April 2003, the European Commission published an action plan to improve the collection of asylum and immigration statistics, and has regularly affirmed the importance of comprehensive and comparable migration statistics. The Commission points out that Eurostat has been collecting migration and asylum figures from the Member States for some years under informal arrangements, but there has not been any comprehensive legal basis to ensure comparable statistics at EU level.
The draft regulation will be followed by implementing regulations, setting out the exact statistical definitions to be applied.