Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2013)342 - Provision and quality of statistics for the macroeconomic imbalances procedure - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2013)342 - Provision and quality of statistics for the macroeconomic imbalances procedure. |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2013)342  |
| date | 07-06-2013 |
This initiative fits into the political context of improving of the economic governance of the Union. Together with the Union strategy for growth and jobs, the European semester for the coordination of economic and budgetary policies, and the Stability and Growth Pact for the correction of government excessive deficits, there is a need to detect, prevent and correct macroeconomic imbalances.
For this purpose, Regulation (EU) No 1176/2011 set out detailed rules for the early detection, prevention and correction of macroeconomic imbalances which emerge or persist in the euro area and the EU (the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure or MIP).
The MIP and its scoreboard of indicators require efficient statistical quality monitoring of the indicators and of the underlying statistical information.
The ECOFIN Councils of 8 November 2011 and 13 November 2012 underlined the importance for the credibility of the MIP of having timely statistics of the highest quality for inclusion in the scoreboard and invited the Commission (Eurostat) to take all necessary initiatives to assure a reliable procedure for the compilation of these statistics as well as a continuous improvement of the underlying statistical information.
There is therefore a need to develop a robust statistical monitoring system for the MIP based on a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council. This Regulation will cover the monitoring of data quality; the compilation and transmission of data and metadata; and the reporting/communication on the data to the different stakeholders and to the European Parliament and the Council.
The Regulation will introduce new tasks for the Commission (Eurostat) on the following main aspects: validating the quality of the MIP relevant data in relation to quality criteria that either exist already or will be further specified in certain areas; structuring, collecting and analysing Member States’ compilation sources and methods; developing and implementing an improvement action plan. The work on the MIP relevant data will need to be supported by good website publication and dissemination arrangements, as well as release actions.
The implementation of the draft Regulation with a view to providing high quality statistics will require close cooperation with Member States’ statistical authorities covering both the scoreboard data and the underlying statistical information.
WITH INTERESTED PARTIES AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
2.1. RESULTS OF CONSULTATIONS WITH INTERESTED PARTIES
The need to have statistics of the highest quality for inclusion in the MIP scoreboard, and to develop a reliable quality monitoring procedure for this purpose, has been stressed by the ECOFIN Council.
Extensive discussions with Member States on quality and comparability issues relating to the MIP relevant data have taken place in the Economic Policy Committee. In particular some areas for improvements were identified in the 2012 EPC Report on requirements for structural statistics.
There have been contacts with other Directorates General, in particular the Economic and Financial affairs DG.
Several improvement actions relating to underlying statistical information have been undertaken in cooperation with the European Central Bank and other international organisations.
2.2. IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
The successful implementation of this Regulation will mainly require close cooperation from Member States’ statistical authorities with a view to improving the quality of the MIP relevant data and the underlying statistical information. No additional data collection mechanisms are foreseen.
If a robust and legally binding quality monitoring procedure were not adopted, the quality and comparability of the MIP relevant data would not be assured, as required by Commission policy. This could in turn affect the credibility and efficiency of the MIP system.
This Regulation sets out the rules governing the way the statistical data that are relevant for the macroeconomic imbalances procedure are provided. These rules relate to the compilation, quality monitoring and release of the indicators in the macroeconomic imbalances procedure scoreboard. The main objective of the Regulation is to develop a robust quality monitoring procedure in order to ensure the highest quality of the MIP relevant data.
Article 338 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provides the legal basis for European statistics. Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, the European Parliament and the Council adopt measures for the production of statistics, where necessary, on how the Union conducts its activities. It sets out the requirements for European statistics, stating that they must conform to standards of impartiality, reliability, objectivity, scientific independence, cost-effectiveness and statistical confidentiality.
The proposal complies with both the subsidiarity and the proportionality principles.
Concerning the subsidiarity principle, the objectives of the proposal do not fall within the exclusive competence of the European Union and at the same time cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States.
The Member States cannot satisfy the central quality concern to the necessary extent without a clear European framework, i.e. European legislation laying down a common quality monitoring procedure for the MIP relevant data.
The objectives of the proposal can be better achieved at European Union level on the basis of a European level act, because only the Commission can develop and apply a harmonised quality monitoring procedure for the MIP relevant data at European Union level. On the other hand, successful implementation of this procedure requires close cooperation with Member States’ statistical authorities covering both the MIP relevant data and the underlying statistical information. The European Union may therefore take action to this end in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty.
Concerning the proportionality principle, the Regulation confines itself to the minimum required to achieve its objective and does not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose. It does not specify an MIP relevant data collection mechanism for each Member State, nor does it duplicate existing procedures. It merely sets out a quality monitoring system in respect of the compilation, transmission and release of the scoreboard statistics and other MIP relevant data.
The proposed legal instrument is a European Parliament and Council Regulation. A regulation is preferable because it lays down the same law throughout the European Union, leaving the Member States with no leeway to apply it incompletely or selectively. It is directly applicable, which means that it does not need to be transposed in national law. The use of a regulation is in line with other European statistical legal acts adopted since 1997.
In order to assure the high quality requirements for the MIP-relevant data in line with the Commission standards as set out in Communication COM(2011) 211 final ‘Towards robust quality management for European Statistics’, additional resources are needed. This has meant introducing a staff bid for 21 posts (12 posts and 9 external personnel) to cover the tasks required of the Commission (Eurostat).
In addition, the Commission will need assistance from Member States’ experts in the context of the MIP missions mentioned in this proposal, and would share with Member States the related costs. This assistance includes national experts’ specific expertise and experience during missions to other Member States, including for the purpose of complete transparency of the system. At this stage, it is difficult to indicate exactly how the costs to the Commission would be financed and to give a precise estimate of these, in particular because all possible synergies will be sought with Eurostat missions in related areas.
5. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The proposed act does not concern an EEA matter.