Doc. EUROSTAT / E4 / Min /2014
Draft MinutesWORKING GROUP MEETING FOR REGIONAL AND URBAN STATISTICS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Working group meeting for Regional and Urban statistics and Rural development
held in Luxembourg,
JMO BUILDING – ROOM M1
on 20.10.2014 AND 21.10.2014
1. Introduction
General information
Participants were the National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) of the Member States as well as the NSIs of Turkey, Serbia and Switzerland. Also participated the Directorate General Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), the Directorate General Agriculture and Rural development (DG AGRI) and the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) of the European Commission. The Committee of the Regions (CoR) was also represented. The OECD and ESPON also took part in the meeting as well as several units from Eurostat.
Documents and presentations are available at:
1.1 Welcome and introduction
The meeting was chaired by the Head of Unit E4, Mr GunterSchäfer, who opened the meeting, welcomed the participants and briefly described the context of the subjects discussed by the Working Group.
1.2 Adoption of the agenda
The agenda was adopted.
1.3 Adoption of the minutes
The minutes of the previous meeting (Eurostat/E4/Min/2013) were accepted without further change.
2. Highlights in 2013/2014
2.1New release of Statistics Illustrated
Presentation: 2.1_Statistics Illustrated
Introduction
Eurostat presented a new release (2.0) of the Regional Statistics Illustrated tool. The new version of the tool visualise regional data at NUTS level 1, 2 and 3 as well. Using an interactive map, individual regions can quickly be selected while different visualisation options allow comparing and analysing regional data in a user-friendly way. A help video has been also included. Two new visualisations have been also added the City Statistics Illustrated based on data collected from cities and the Typologies Illustrated using data by urban/rural typology. The user feedback was positive so far. As a next step Eurostat plans to integrate more typologies (for e.g. degree of urbanisation) into the interface.
Conclusion
The Chair concluded that ‘Regional Statistics Illustrated 2.0’ will be continuously enhanced with new data and features; Eurostat is looking forward to the feedback of participants on the tool, its functionalities and the selection of indicators.
2.2 6th Cohesion report
Presentation: 2.2_6th_Cohesion_report
Introduction
The 6th report on economic, social and territorial Cohesion has been released in July 2014. DG REGIO illustrated through various maps and figures the main conclusions of the report within the context of EU urban agenda and the status of the Cohesion Policy 2014-2020. The crisis had a major impact on regions and cities across the EU. The crisis has led to going far from Europe 2020 targets in employment and GDP moreover less developed regions were more affected. Regional disparities in GDP, employment and poverty have substantially increased. The capitals have been identified as the most dynamic labour market with the biggest concentration of people with tertiary education. The budget for the period 2014-2020 is heavy concentrated to optimise impact – 75% of the funds are distributed to 25% of the population.
DG REGIO pointed out its activity in the area of creating composite indicators like the Regional competitiveness and the European quality of governance index. The achievements in the implementation of Cohesion Policies were highlighted. The presentation continued to sum up DG REGIO’s priorities for data from Eurostat. The latter include: regional poverty indicators and education. Regional business demography data have been already used in the report.
Conclusion
Eurostat assessed the 6th Cohesion report as a quite valuable work. The Chair pointed out that data from other sources from important domains like government and criminality are much appreciated but it is to be used cautiously because of quality issues.
2.3Eurostat regional yearbook 2014
Presentation: 2.3_RYB_2014
Introduction
TheEurostat regional yearbook 2014 was presented as the next point on the agenda, the online version of the publication was released in Statistics Explained in June and the print/PDF version together with the updated version of the Statistical Atlas was released on the 6th of October, just in time to be presented at the Open Days – 12th European Week of Regions and Cities organised by DG Regio and the Committee of the Regions in Brussels.
The 2014 edition contains 15 chapters and has 3 new "Focus on" chapters at the end of the publication; Environment, Land cover and land use as well as Regional competiveness, based on a report about the Regional competiveness index (RCI) published by DG REGIO and the Joint Research Centre (JRC).
The layout of the Regional yearbook has been partly revised, with information boxes lifting up important policy context and "Spotlight of the regions" boxes with photos from one region or city per Member State accompanied by some short statistical facts. The intention was to split up the text a bit and make the content more accessible and easier to read.
A "Steering group" has been set up for the Regional yearbook in order to give advice and monitor all major steps in the publication process, based on good experiences from other Flagship publications. The steering group contains members from Eurostat higher management as well as representatives from E4, the Dissemination unit, the press unit and also from the participating statistical units.
The Regional yearbook is now free of charge and paper copies can be ordered from the EU Bookshop. Please notice that the translations of the Regional yearbook into German and French, as well as 3 chapters into all community languages (apart from Irish and Maltese), can be found in the online version in Statistics Explained.
Discussion
ESPON inquired about chapter 15 called "Focus on regional competitiveness"; is Eurostat planning on updating the dataset? Eurostat responded that this chapter was clearly a "guest contribution" based on a report previously published by DG REGIO and JRC and they will determine when the next version of the Regional competiveness index will be calculated / updated next time.
The "static" data underlying chapter 15 is available in Statistics Explained (in the Excel file at the end of the article), but it should be noted this chapter doesn't contain any direct source code links to Eurobase below each map/table/graph as all other chapters of the publication, since the source data in this case isn't available in Eurobase. The concept of composite indicators is quite debated, since the ranking depend a lot on the selection and weight of each indicator making up the total index, but apart from this reservation Eurostat still thinks that the Regional Competitiveness Index, which to a large extent is built on Eurostat data, is very interesting and worth presenting to the general public.
2.4 Labour market areas
Document: E4/REG/2014/24, Presentation: 2.4_LMA-Task_Force
Introduction
Eurostat presented the work of the Task Force on Labour Market Areas (LMA). The work of the Task Force (TF) was driven by the incentive to achieve harmonisation in the field of LMAs by providing a simple method and tool to EU countries to define their own LMAs. Eurostat stressed that the method chosen by the TF is a simple, transparent, reproducible, consistent, and policy independent bottom-up method that needs only commuting flows as input. Furthermore, Eurostat announced that the IT tool (R script) implementing the method is close to final. Once final, the tool will be publicly available, and accompanied by a detailed documentation. Eurostat also outlined recommendations of the TF for the input data specifications. Moreover, a short introduction to sensitivity analyses carried out with the new method was also presented. Finally, ways and means to distribute the EU method for Labour Market Areas across the EU have been also formulated.
Discussion
The working group was most interested in the purpose and potential impact of the definition of European LMAs. Eurostat clarified that in the short term the geographical LMA pattern is in the focus of interest. Eurostat does not plan to collect data for LMAs. If data needs emerge, they shall be rather addressed by the usage of existing geo-referenced surveys (LFS, SILC, ICT etc.) and limited to LMAs with EU relevance. This view was supported by DG REGIO.
The mentoring programme, presented by Eurostat, as the preferred way to distribute and promote the know-how and the method across the EU is seen as creating potential extra work for both the tutor and the scholar countries. Eurostat announced that the mentoring programme shall be supported by grants to compensate the NSIs for the additional effort.
Further to the request for clarification on the input data (commuting flows) Eurostat confirmed that the Census is the preferred source but registers are also accepted.
MSs highly appreciated the work done by the task force on development a harmonised method for defining the Labour Market Areas (LMA). The advantage for countries without LMAs were pointed out. The delegates acknowledged that each country will have the possibility to define their own optimal set of parameters but some recommendation on the choice of the parameters might be useful.
Conclusion
The TF encouraged Eurostat to continue the project. The latest version of the IT tool (1.2) is expected for the end of October. Once the tool is available TF member countries will carry out sensitivity analyses for their own countries. An official proposal with the method and next step is planned for spring 2015.
3. Policy developments
3.1Regional and urban policy
DG REGIO communicated its activities during the last year. These include the publication of the Role of the capital cities in the EU Urban Agenda and the 6th Cohesion report. In 2016 the City report is to be published again based on Eurostat’s data. DG REGIO highlighted the strong link between policy and official statistics.
DG REGIO pointed out the increased importance of a territorial agenda and the urban dimension in policy making on EU level. The recently closed open consultation on "The urban dimension of EU policies – key features of an EU Urban Agenda" is supporting the latter. At the same time, it is worth mentioning that upcoming presidencies may wish to bring small to medium size cities more into to focus of the political agenda.
For policy monitoring purposes DG REGIO aspires to achieve a set of input and output indicators for evaluation of the progress and the impact of the programs and the money spent in a meaningful way. On Commission level, the GDP shall be less and less the only indicator for benchmarking and measuring the progress in EU regions.
DG REGIO expressed its enthusiasm about the Business demography data (item 6.1 on the Agenda). It was explained also that DG REGIO is very active in the area of creating composite indicators. The presentation continued to sum up DG REGIO’s priorities for the future in respect to the collaboration with Eurostat. The latter include: regionalisation of SILC, the TERCET Regulation and indicators for the purposes of policy monitoring.
Discussion
MSs asked about the impact of the ex-ante conditionality on the programming process. DG REGIO pointed out as an example that before investing in transport it should be clear if the country has an updated Transport development program.
Conclusion
DG REGIO explained the status of the Cohesion Policy 2014-2020. It was concluded that different types of regions and countries need different strategies and adapted approaches.
3.2Rural development policy
Presentation: 3.2_DG AGRI_RD Policy and usage of statistical data
Introduction
DG AGRI explained the Rural Development Policy objectives in the context of CAP addressed to challenges for agriculture. All of the funds are focused to achieve the Europe 2020 targets. For the program period 2014-2020 95.5 EUR billion are to be allocated for the Rural Development Programs in order to reduce the imbalance between the development of rural and urban territories.
DG AGRI reported its policy needs for rural development statistics and data analysis. Data is used for statistical reports and analyses, impact assessments and monitoring and evaluation. Examples of the data analysis and briefs produced were communicated as well as information on the yearly ‘Rural development report’ published by DG AGRI using data on different NUTS level. The importance of the Common indicators (impact, result, output and context indicators) for monitoring and evaluation of the CAP 2014-2020 was highlighted. Lastly DG AGRI concluded that more statistical data at regional level based on the Rural-Urban typology is needed.
Discussion
DG REGIO appreciated the application of the Rural-Urban typology and pointed out that the terminology is to be used very carefully.
3.3 Regional statistics: recent developments at the Committee of the Regions
Presentation: 3.3_The Committee of the Regions and Statistics
The Committee of the Regions (CoR) informed about the recent developments in the European Statistical Advisory Committee (ESAC) that comments on the Annual Work Programme of Eurostat, including the field of regional statistics. Since last year the CoR publishes monthly a statistical bulletin which includes a general part, a regional part and a focus on specific topics. The CoR pointed out the increased consultative involvement of the unit that covers in the CoR statistical matters in the work of the CoR commissions when preparing the opinions. The CoR also stressed the success of the Open Days 2014 and presented a collection of interesting slides from the workshops. Suggestions on workshops for the Open Days 2015 shall be sent to the CoR by May next year.
4. Regional, rural and urban statistics – objectives for the future
4.1 Eurostat Annual Work Plan 2015
Presentation: 4.1_SWOT Analysis
Introduction:
The Chair presented the key points for the Eurostat Annual Work Plan (AWP) for regional and urban statistics. The main emphasis will be on further gradual improvements and consolidation. Good progress has already been achieved in previous years. Coordination between the wide range of indicators remains a priority.
The work on the planned Regulation on territorial classifications for which work has started in 2014 will be most likely the politically most relevant part of the work.
In 2015 a new round of data collections for cities likely to be linked to some additional work on labour market areas will be launched and a flagship publication for cities scheduled for publication in 2016 will need to be prepared.
Conclusion:
The Working Group welcomed the Eurostat plans. DG REGIO emphasised its current key priorities for short to medium term improvements, the regionalisation of SILC, regional data on business demography and the political availability of functional territories.
4.2 Europe 2020 and the regional dimension - observations from Germany
Presentation: 4.2_Europe 2020 and the regional dimension – observations from Germany
Introduction
The German NUAC, Alexandra Muth, City of Mannheim, presented observations from Germany on the regional dimension of Europe 2020. Some core indicators are used at subnational level in the European cohesion report. Some but not all indicators of the Europe2020-strategy can be used to measure developments on city level or are not appropriate. They are only available to a certain extent for the regional and city level. Urban Audit offers data related to headline indicators. From the Federal Statistical Office’s point of view a limited set of harmonized statistical core indicators - in line with other initiatives at inter- und supranational level (OECD „How‘s life“, UN „post 2015“) - would be helpful.
Discussion
Delegates discussed if the EU2020 targets should be the same on national, regional and city level, and if the data can be measured in the same way on different geographical levels.
Conclusion
DG REGIO expressed that Europe 2020 indicators in City statistics should inspire City specific EU2020-indicators. Though setting city-specific targets seems not to be reasonable comparable indicators could help cities to easily assess themselves with regard to (supra) national targets.
4.3 Big data and its potential for official statistics
Presentation: 4.3_The ESS and Big Data
Introduction
The characteristics of Big Data and its potential use for official statistics have been presented briefly. The example of ICT statistics and tourism statistics have been elaborated in more detail. The second part of the presentation informed about the road map set up by Eurostat and the Action Plan of the Eurostat Big Data Task Force.
Discussion
Some clarifications were requested on the definition of Big Data. Also some methodological aspects of the pilots presented have been discussed.
Conclusion
Big data is indisputably a growing phenomenon and it will have an impact on more and more areas. The question remains if NSIs and Eurostat can take a lead and benefit from their experience and make use of these sources.