Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-11-18-Speech-2-408"
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"en.20081118.32.2-408"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, firstly, I am sorry to see Commissioner McCreevy leaving the Chamber as with this dossier he could have experienced the conclusion of a very successful and relatively lengthy procedure with the European Parliament. This experience is now reserved for you, Commissioner Almunia. I am pleased that today we can bring a successful, lengthy process to its conclusion at first reading, with a large degree of consensus. To begin with, I would also – in contrast to the previous dossier – like to thank the Slovenian and French Presidencies of the Council for the sustained and sometimes difficult negotiations that you have conducted in order to reach a compromise.
This dossier also involves reducing the administrative burden with regard to statistics within the European Union, as well as for companies at local level. Therefore I believe that we can put this report in the context of reducing bureaucracy. In Germany, for example, the proportion of costs for official statistics is, according to calculations by the
(German Institute for Economic Research), less than 10% of total bureaucratic costs when analysing the entire economy. This is approximately EUR 230 million. If we, as the European Union, really can take this situation in hand, I believe that we will make an important step towards less bureaucracy by reducing statistics-based obligations. Thank you, Commissioner Almunia, for your proposal.
Now I would like to discuss the new regulation on European statistics specifically. The regulation on European statistics represents the legal structure for producing statistics at European level and revises the existing basic legal framework for producing statistics at European level. Even though the shadow rapporteurs from the other Groups are not present this evening, I would still like to take this opportunity to thank you for the constructive cooperation. The discussions were not easy but they proved successful in the end.
The proposal is part of a whole series of regulations which the Commission has adopted in the current legislative term in connection with producing and distributing statistics and which were debated in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. We will make the following changes to the contents of this regulation proposal. We will redefine the European statistical system and fix its activities within Community law. We will define the role of the national statistical offices within the European statistical system, while at the same time ensuring that the subsidiarity principle continues to be fully applied in the Member States, as is prescribed, and we will strive for reference to the European Statistics Code of Practice and its entrenchment in Community law. In this respect, a response is being made to the difficult situation concerning statistics after the introduction of the euro in some of the Member States of the European Union. Finally, the proposal sets up two different bodies – an ESS Partnership Group and an ESS Committee – which together replace the former Statistical Programme Committee.
The clear-cut committee vote and a successful trialogue prove that coherent legislation has been achieved. In the minutes that remain, I would like to present this legislative project once again in connection with two important issues. We have been able to ensure that, in the future, this regulation will enable Eurostat to gain faster, unrestricted access to all the statistical data which is required to collect important economic criteria. In this way, we will provide a bit more transparency for statistics at European level and therefore make the euro area that bit more competitive. This is good news, particularly in the light of the financial crisis and the difficult discussions concerning the statistical system.
Secondly, I believe that it is very important that this report reinforces the scientific independence of statistics even more. This is a positive signal to the staff working in this sector. Finally, I am grateful that a compromise with all the Member States has been achieved. I know – even though the Council’s benches are empty this evening – that it was not easy for many people, but I believe that with this regulation proposal we are able to satisfy all those involved and that we can be happy with the regulation. I would like to thank you for listening and for the successful cooperation."@en1
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"Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung"1
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