Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-06-15-Speech-2-112"
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"en.20100615.6.2-112"2
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"Mr President, let me first thank Mr Karas, Ms Bowles and others for raising these very important issues concerning the quality of statistical data and Eurostat. Let me also welcome the support expressed in your draft opinion for the Commission proposal to amend the Regulation on the Application of the Protocol on the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP).
The measures taken by the Greek Government illustrate their commitment to implement the strategy to reform the statistical system, to stabilise their public finances and to restore long-term sustainable economic growth. This decision of Moody’s seems inconsistent with the evolution of Greek sovereign bond deals and CDS spreads, which have narrowed significantly since the agreement on the programme. This again raises issues relating to the role of credit rating agencies in the financial system and prudential regulation.
These issues and others will be taken into consideration in the Commission’s thinking on the future of credit rating agencies. In particular, the Commission will look in the coming months at the issues of the level of competition in this sector – highly concentrated for the time being – as well as at the transparency regarding methodology and the conflict of interests, since the system remains based on the payer-issuer model.
Let me conclude by saying that it is of absolute importance that we have accurate and reliable statistical data on national accounts. It is one of the cornerstones of a properly and effectively functioning economic and monetary union, as was underlined for instance by Mr Karas. Hence, this amendment on Eurostat’s powers is part and parcel of reinforcing economic governance in Europe, which is indeed a necessary objective.
Let me point out that this is the very first legislative proposal of Mr Barroso’s second Commission in February. I am glad that it will soon be adopted, I trust, and we will then have it in our arsenal. We needed it a long time ago, as Ms Bowles said.
The original proposal to this effect was made in 2005, but it was then rejected by the Member States. Times have changed and now we have broad support for this in the Council.
As regards this proposal, the general approach agreed upon by the Ecofin Council on 8 June last week confirms the importance of ensuring high quality statistics on government debt and deficit and acknowledges the role of the Commission and Eurostat for that purpose.
The regulation being finalised preserves the main objective of the proposal put forward by the Commission, namely, granting more audit powers to Eurostat when a significant risk or problem with the quality of data has been identified. The Commission can, therefore, accept the compromise text.
The Commission intends to take several further steps with regard to strengthening the quality of European statistics for the EDP. There will be an immediate reinforcement of staff resources dealing with this work, mainly by internal redeployment within Eurostat. Member States will be visited more regularly than at present in the so-called EDP Dialogue Visits.
The Commission will ensure the integration of more information on source data for compiling statistics into the EDP inventories foreseen by the regulation. Should there arise an exceptional case where significant risks or problems with respect to the quality of the data have been clearly identified, Eurostat will use all the relevant powers at its disposal under the new rules, including, of course, the audit powers.
Before concluding, let me say a few words about Greece on some topical issues. I wish to use this opportunity and maybe take a minute more of your time. As is well known, the Commission has undertaken in-depth work on Greek statistics over several years. The amended regulation should, in future, better mitigate the risk of fraud or manipulation of statistics, or of any other kind of irregularity.
Yesterday, there was a new development concerning Greece. You will know that Moody’s decided to downgrade Greek bonds yesterday. I have discussed this also with my colleague Michel Barnier and the Commission President. I must say that the timing of Moody’s decision is both surprising and highly unfortunate, coming after the agreement on a macro-economic adjustment programme between Greece and the Commission, the ECB and the IMF."@en1
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