Council approves conclusions on statistics

The Council approved conclusions on EU statistics that welcome progress made on keeping comparable and reliable statistics for better policy-making and provide guidance for further work.

The conclusions welcome the progress reached on information requirements in the Economic and Monetary Union and on the quality of statistics for the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure and the Stability and Growth Pact.

In addition, the conclusions feature the achievements in relation to the provision of statistical indicators for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals, the progress made on business statistics and the statistical response to crises.

In particular, they welcome that the European Statistical System (ESS) and European System of Central Banks have continued to provide timely and effective statistical support for the EU’s response to the Russian military aggression against Ukraine, notably on energy-related statistics.

Looking forward, the conclusions encourage the swift and complete implementation of the amended Energy Statistics Regulation and the timely adoption of the revision of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics. They also take note of Commission proposal for amending Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 to expand the range of environmental economic accounts to new modules and the recent Commission proposal for a new regulation on Labour Market statistics on Businesses (LMB).

Background and next steps

Given the importance of high quality, comparable and reliable statistics for EU economic policy-making, and especially for the economic policy coordination, the Council approves conclusions on EU statistics in autumn each year.

In its conclusions, the Council reviews the progress made on the statistical priorities set in the ECOFIN Council in the previous year and provides guidance for further work.