EUROSTAT
Directorate A: Cooperation in the European Statistical System; International cooperation; Resources
Unit A3: Statistical cooperation
Meeting of the
Policy Group on Statistical Cooperation
19 - 20 October 2017
Durrës
Albania
Draft Minutes
1
DAY 1 - 19 October 2017
1.General issues
1.1 Welcome
Ms Ibrahimaj, Director General of the Institute of Statistics (Albania) welcomed the participants to the PGSC. Mr Everaers thanked INSTAT for hosting the meeting and welcomed the guests from the NSIs of the enlargement counties and the international organisations and institutions represented.
Mr Everaers (Eurostat) informed about recent developments in the European Statistical System (ESS).
Following the retirement of former Director General of Eurostat Mr Radermacher, Ms Kotzeva has been the acting Director General of Eurostat. The recruitment process will be closed shortly and the important decision will be made on who will the next Director General of Eurostat.
On the governance side, a new European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB) andEuropean Statistical Advisory Committee (ESAC) will be established shortly. Whereas the role of the ESGAB is on the governance of the ESS and compliance with the European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP), the ESAC plays an important role in advising on statistical matterswith academia represented in the committee. The board of the European Master of Official Statistics (EMOS) is also represented in the ESAC. In the coming period universities can apply for their programme to be labelled as an EMOS. Currently the University of Donja Goricain Montenegro is the only university in the region with an EMOS degree; however, Eurostat encourages the NSIs in the region in cooperation with the universities whether they should invest to attract an EMOS degree for one of their programmes.
Regarding the European Statistical Programme (ESP), Mr Everaers (Eurostat) informed about the extension of the current ESP for the period 2018-2020 as well as the discussions on the consecutive programme beyond 2020. The 2018-2020 ESP is considered an extension of the previous programme and addition funds were allocated to Eurostat’s operational budget for this period in order to operationalize new surveys and look into topics within globalisation, energy statistics and so-called SMART statistics. The extension of the ESP for the period 2018-2020 was also done in order to align the Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF)of the European Commission. Currently the EU is discussing possible contributions from the EU member stated on a new MFF beginning in 2020. These discussions are also related to whether the EU will prioritise new common policy areas or whether there will be a deeper integration on certain policies.The discussions on an ESP for the period beyond 2020 are still not very detailed; however, Eurostat considers dissemination a possible area for this programme. Dynamic publications have been discussed as well as new data sources of Official Statistics and SMART statistics.
Another important topic for the ESS is the trust in statistics and challenges provided by fake news. These topics are again related to the quality of Official Statistics and status of NSI. An important priority for Eurostat is to guarantee the trustworthiness of Eurostat statistics.
Eurostat is currently publishing some statistics, which are not yet fulfilling the usual requirements of Official Statistics. These are labelled experimental statistics and can be accessed on a dedicated section of the Eurostat webpage. This is an important approach to testing the value of publications that do not necessarily fulfil the quality label of Official Statistics.
A final point is that Eurostat considers Official Statistics produced by Greece satisfactory, and no longer express reservation about the data. However there are still unresolved governance issues in the Greek Statistical Systemand the established Commitment on Confidence (CoC) will be important track and ensure satisfactory governance.
Mr Everaers (Eurostat) informed the participants on previous and upcoming events such as the ISI in Marrakesh on 2017, the planned IAOS conference in Paris 2018 and the next quality conference in Poland in 2018. Eurostat will support participation of the NSIs in the enlargement countries via the multi-beneficiary IPA programmes.
Mr Krasniqi, CEO of the Kosovo Agency for Statistics (KAS),appreciated the information on dynamic publications and would like to receive additional information on this way of presenting data. The recently established government of Kosovo[*] aims to publish new statistics which are more flexible.
Ms Ibrahimaj (Albania) enquired about the length of the ESP to follow the recent three-year extension. This is relevant for ongoing discussion of amendments to the Law on Official Statistics (LOS) and the duration of the multi-annual work programmes in Albania
Mr Everaers (Eurostat) explained that the ESP is linked to a particular financing program. For the duration and budget allocation, the European Parliament and Council of the EU decide on these matters. However, from the point of formulating objective there is a general preference in favour of shorter durations as this allow for more detailed planning. As the next MFF is not yet designed yet, but if the duration will be 10 years, it could be matched with two consecutive 5 year programmes with intermediate evaluation.
Ms Simoni (Albania) informed about the practical arrangements for the meeting and the social programme.
1.2 Adoption of agenda
Mr Everaers (Eurostat) introduced the agenda according to the main sessions. Ms Ibrahimaj (Albania) informed that instead of presenting the National Statistical System of Albania, INSTAT will present recent developments regarding the publication of the results of the agriculture census. The agenda was adopted accordingly.
1.3Adoption of the minutes of the last PGSC meeting in Croatiain 2016
Participants are asked to approve the minutes. The draft minutes were circulated for comments in January 2017and comments received were incorporated.
Mr Whitworth (Eurostat) informed on the status of the minutes from the 2016 PGSC meeting. The minutes were adopted without any comments.
Delegates approved the minutes of the PGSC meeting of October 2016.
1.4 Information onthe 2017 MGSC meeting
Participants are asked to take note of the discussions within the MGSC. The draft minutes were circulated in May2017 and comments received were incorporated.
Mr Whitworth (Eurostat) informed on the status of the minutes from the 2016 MGSC meeting. The participants took note of the minutes from the 2016 MGSC.
MrEveraers (Eurostat) informed that the dates for next year's MGSC meeting are not yet determine and it could possible take place later than the usual period. As the MGSC requires intensive preparations, Eurostat is not sure when it could take place next year.
Delegates took note of the information provided on the MGSC meeting of March 2017.
2.Developments in the enlargement and the Stabilisation and Association Process
Mr Wild (DG NEAR) made a comment that in the work on the enlargement policy, DG NEAR will use statistical data from other sources than Eurostat if such data are available. He noted that the World Bank is faster to disseminate new data than Eurostat is. On the other hand, it is preferred to have access to a consolidated set of data which is internally consistent and which has high quality.
Furthermore, Mr Wild said that the basic issues in the enlargement policy are the fundamentals, which are the rule of law and public administration reform, within which he counted public financial management, resources management, administration in general, and public procurement.
In the economic area, development of competitiveness is key for the preparation of accession to EU. In this context, the Regional Economic Area is an initiative to created EU-like cooperation between the Western Balkan countries in order to prepare them for EU accession, in particular for the Copenhagen criteria related to a functioning market economy. A monitoring framework is foreseen and there is a potential need for indicators.
A Western Balkan strategy is expected to be issued by the EU Commission in February 2018 and specifically, Montenegro and Serbia are identified as front runners. A tentative accession date will be mentioned, 2025, but there is no decision on this date. The regular country reports are expected in April 2018 and will assess the state-of-play in terms of compliance with the EU acquis, the institutional framework and the administrative capacity to assume the obligations of EU membership.
Mr Wild mentioned the issues discussed at the fourth Western Balkan (WB6) summit meeting: connectivity, transport and energy corridors, and to integrate the enlargement countries regionally, for instance by increasing trade in goods and services and to increase foreign direct investments which would lead to the creation of many new jobs in the region. In this context there is a link to the South East Europe 2020 (SEE2020) strategy to increase intra-region trade. Financial services should be integrated in the region and if the digital integration is successful, digital commerce between the WB6 countries would develop. A goal is to have a more integrated Western Balkan region by 2023, but this depends on the will of the politicians.
Turkey is a key partner of the EU, Mr Wild went on. While the recent developments in the countries are sad, the country has a lot of potential. Of the EU funds earmarked for the agreement between the EU and Turkey on migration, €1.8bn has been disbursed so far.
On the main issues in the other enlargement countries, Mr Wild noted that Montenegro is member of NATO since June 2017 and that the statistics chapter is open in accession negotiations since some years. Regarding Serbia and the opening of negotiations on chapter 18 statistics, it is the Member States in the Council that have the last word.
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has satisfactory local elections and has to strengthen its neighbourly relationships, in particular to strengthen the confidence of Greece, which has a considerable leverage over the country.
Albania has conditions in the judicial field before accession negotiations can be opened and the Member States have to decide if the justice reform is sufficient. Mr Wild noted that Germany has concerns about Albania.
The Commission has sent a questionnaire to Bosnia and Herzegovina, asking for information to help judging if the country should be granted candidate status. Commission is waiting for the consolidated answers to the questionnaire from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Regarding Kosovo, Mr Wild noted that a new Prime Minister had been appointed.
Delegates took note of the overview on the enlargement and Stabilisation and Association process provided by Mr Wild (DG NEAR).
3. Peer reviews and monitoring
Delegates took note of the experience of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Kosovo where peer reviewswere carried out in 2017. Both reviews were successful and the other countries received useful practical information about various aspects of organising and carrying out peer reviews. The preparation of a peer review is facilitated if all relevant documents (statistics law, work programme, strategy documents etc) are available in advance in English versions. The involvement of Other National Authorities (ONA) for statistical production in the peer review was recognised as difficult due to the low number of statisticians in each ONA (with the exception of Central Banks).
After the final report of the peer review is published, the NSI drafts improvement actions as a response to the recommendations of the peer review. These recommendations and actions should be of SMART nature in order to allow monitoring of the actions.
Ms Marković (Montenegro) raised a question about the sequence of countries to attend the remaining peer reviews as observers. This will be sent by Eurostat separately after the PGSC meeting.
As one of the elements of taking up the recommendations for the forthcoming peer reviews, Commitments on Confidence could be envisaged. In the light of this Eurostat presented the work on signing Commitments on Confidence by the European Commission and by the governments of the member states and the progress achieved so far. Montenegro, the first enlargement country to start work on the CoC, mentioned that they expected to have the CoC signed before the end of October 2017.
Eurostat underlined that governments of enlargement countries are expected to sign a Commitment of Confidence (CoC) before joining the EU.
Eurostat presented the report on the progress achieved in implementing the improvement actions stemming from the peer reviews, light peer reviews and adapted global assessments carried out in the enlargement countries with a focus on overall progress and unresolved recommendations.
Conclusions:
Delegates took note of the progress in implementing improvement actions from the Peer Reviews, AGAs and LPRs. The results continue the observed trend from recent years that a lot of progress have already been realised, and "old" recommendations remain a challenge to resolve. In this regard the new round of Peer Reviews is expected to give new momentum to progress in the countries with new sets of recommendations.
4. Sustainable Development Goals
Mr Carlquist (Eurostat) outlined the history of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): in 2015 the United National had adopted 17 goals, setting 169 targets; 244 indicators had been agreed at the 2017 UN Statistical Commission following the work of an Inter-Agency and Expert Group (IAEG-SDG).The European Commission adopted a communication in 2016 entitled "Next steps for a sustainable European future". The EU Reference Indicators consist of 100 indicators of which 69 are deemed as being "official statistics". The focus in the EU is on indicators needed for EU policy and Eurostat will not collect data for more than these. SDG data is collected from Enlargement countries as part of the regular data collection.
Mr Vale (UNECE) gave the UN perspective. He emphasised that it is a country led process. There are three "tiers" of indicators, depending on the availability of methods and data. The "Custodians" (agencies assigned responsibility for the various indicators) would be responsible for developing methodology where it does not exist. He reported on the work of the IAEG-SDG. The Conference of European Statisticians (CES) has adopted a road map in June 2017 containing a number of recommendations for NSIs.
Mr Everaers (Eurostat) saw two issues of interest for the meeting: the international picture with the responsibility of the custodians and the EU approach which was focussing on EU policy.
Mr Täube (EFTA) questioned the status of the 31 indicators that are not official statistics. Are they in the third tier (i.e. no methodology or data)? If so will the custodians be developing methodology?
Ms Marković (Montenegro) asked if the EU indicators are new and where those that are not official statistics come from.
Mr Carlquist replied that the EU set is a subset of the 244 UN SDG indicators and that non-official statistics indicators are be produced, for example, by agencies, such as the European Environment Agency.
Mr Tasti(Turkey) gave an account of how this topic was being addressed in his country. There are two main pillars: the Ministry of Development and Turkstat. After a stocktaking exercise a road map has been established. Around 46% of the indicators are available and Turkstat is responsible for about 40% of these. The next step is to report on national priorities and investigate the data gaps. There is a news bulletin and a web portal on the subject.
Mr Everaers suggested the setting up of a forum for sharing of experience.
Ms Gerdziunaite (Eurostat) informed the meeting of the relevant activities under IPA 2015. There is a pilot project on EU SDGs and there will be two introductory workshops. There will probably be some activity in IPA 2017.
Conclusions:
Delegates took note of the recent developments related to SDG indicators, both at the EU level as well as at the UN and national levels. Most countries recognised the challenges to make data available for SDG and to coordinate the development work with many actors involved. The borderline between official statistics and other statistics is very pertinent in relation to SDG.
A forum for exchange of views might be organised by Eurostat to exchange information between enlargement countries on the SDG indicators.
5The Code of Practice and Coordination of the National Statistical Systems
Ms Gerdziunaite (Eurostat) introduced the anticipated changes to the European statistics Code of Practice (CoP). The presentation gave the background and status of revisions which was at the time of the meeting being prepared for adoption on the ESSC meeting in November 2017. Hence the proposed revisions could not yet be considered final. ESGAB recommended in the period 2014-2016 to amend the CoP to take into account the coordinating role of the NSI, to clarify certain indicators, to include a reference to multiple data sources and their implications on quality, costs and in comparability of statistical production. Furthermore the ESBAG recommended addressing the concerns associated with use of big data. Further to the recommendations of ESGAB, the amended regulation 223/2009 on European Statistics, innovation in statistics, experiences made with the second round of ESS peer reviews and a wish to make the text more general and timeless were the main drivers behind the revisions.
As regards the revisions, Ms Gerdziunaite (Eurostat) highlighted the introduction of a new principle on coordination and cooperation (principle 0), the alignment of certain wording with the amended regulation 223/2009, broadening the scope by introducing the possibilities to cover new data sources and developments, and include notions of innovation, value, anticipating user needs and priorities and data interoperability.
As the changes are still ongoing the draft text could not be disseminated to the participants at the time of the PGSC. The next steps in the work includes the follow up of finding of the Quality working Group meeting, written consultation of the member of the High-level Group on quality, finalise the text and finally submitting the related documents to the ESSC meeting planned for mid-November.
Mr Tasti (Turkey) considered the amendment would be useful for Turkstat, andrecommended that Eurostat should consult revisions also with the enlargement countries. The background is their participation in the Quality Working Group and some recommendations regarding several principles. Furthermore, numbering the new principle for coordination and cooperation was mentioned.