Brussels, 09/11/2005 (Agence Europe) -Further to a report by the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC) on the statistical needs of the economic and monetary union (EMU), the Ecofin Council on Tuesday adopted conclusions on statistical governance and a series of amendments to regulation 3605/93 on the quality of statistical data as part of the excessive deficit procedure, stressing the need fully to implement all the main European economic indicators. The objective is mainly to ensure respect for the code of conduct which is designed to guarantee the independence and integrity of the statistical Institutes, and will also apply to Eurostat. The Council takes note of the Commission's willingness to reform the Advisory Committee on Statistical Information on the Economic and Social Spheres (CEIES), to make it into a smaller and more efficient body, in order to improve the quality of Community statistics and good governance. The Commission and the Member States disagreed over the role and scope of the competencies this consultative body should be given, compared to the national statistical institutes. Lastly, there will be full inspection rights over Eurostat (via an annual report on the application of the code of conduct by the European statistical office), but this will only be partial for the national institutes, as part of a peer assessment. The new consultative body will be presided over by an influential person, to be appointed by the Council, according to the conclusions.
As for the amendments to the regulation on the quality of statistics as part of the excessive deficit procedure, the Council welcomed the precisions brought by the Commission since last June, particularly on the details of the Eurostat's visits to the national institutes (EUROPE 8962). The legal obligations incumbent upon the Member States are specified in the conclusions: the "visited" services will be those responsible for information on the excessive deficit procedure; they will need to provide only information which is strictly necessary for the observance of the European accounting rules to be verified; national experts taking part in the methodological Eurostat visits will be appointed by the services, the conclusions stress. With the modifications duly adopted, the Council has politically approved the proposal to revise regulation 3605/93.