A4-0175/95

Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) on the European System of National and Regional Accounts in the European Community (COM(94)0593 - C4-0129/95 - 94/0314(CNS))

The proposal was approved with the following amendments:

(Amendment 1)

Recital 6

>Original text>

Whereas the European System of Integrated Economic Accounts must be revised to meet the requirements of Economic and Monetary Union and will have to be used for compiling the national and regional accounts provided for by Community legislation;

>Text following EP vote>

Whereas the European System of Integrated Economic Accounts must be revised to meet the requirements of Economic and Monetary Union and will have to be used for compiling the national and regional accounts provided for by Community legislation; whereas those accounts, assuming that they are compatible, will make for the closest coordination of economic policies and convergence of the Member States' economic performances and, not least, enable the policies being pursued by the Member States to be subjected to detailed comparative analyses;

(Amendment 2)

Recital 6a (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Whereas it is necessary to compile separate satellite accounts, for example micro-economic accounts of household income and expenditure or accounts relating to the nature and distribution of tax revenue in the Member States;

(Amendment 3)

Recital 7a (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Whereas the scheduled date for forwarding data in accordance with the ESA 95 is such that it will not be possible to refer to the data for the purposes of the decision to introduce the single currency, as provided for in Article 109j(3);

(Amendment 4)

Recital 9a (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Whereas the basic rights of individuals and respect for the principle of transparency imply that statistical data, unless they are confidential, should be directly and readily accessible;

(Amendment 5)

Recital 10a (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Whereas, on the one hand, the incentives for the data compiled to be standardized, processed, and forwarded to Eurostat must be sufficient to aid those Member States which do not have large-scale facilities for dealing with statistics; whereas, however, the additional time allowed by way of exception to certain Member States for forwarding data must not hold up the general procedures for introducing the ESA 95;

(Amendment 14)

Recital 15a (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Whereas ESA 95 should follow the SNA 93 of the United Nations, on which it is based, in setting up a satellite system for integrated environmental and economic accounting;

(Amendment 15)

Recital 15b (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Whereas ESA 95 should progressively meet the requirements of the Fifth Environmental Action Programme concerning the 'adaptation of the traditional tools of economic statistics, including modification of key economic indicators, such as GNP, so as to reflect the value of natural and environmental resources in generating current and future incomes and to account for environmental losses and damage on the basis of assigned monetary value';

(Amendment 16)

Recital 15c (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Whereas ESA 95 must take into account the Commission's Communication on Environmental Indicators and Green National Accounting: the Integration of Environmental and Economic Information Systems (COM(94)0670);

(Amendment 6)

Recital 17a (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Whereas the European Parliament, the Council, and the Commission reached agreement on 20 December 1994 on a modus vivendi concerning the implementing measures for acts adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189b of the EC Treaty,

(Amendment 17)

Article 2, first paragraph a (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Before 1 January 1997, the Commission shall propose a methodology for the full integration of the satellite system for integrated environmental and economic accounting.

(Amendment 21)

Article 2, second paragraph

>Original text>

Amendments to the ESA 95 methodology which are intended to clarify and improve its content shall be adopted by Commission Decision in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 5, provided that they do not change its underlying concepts, do not require additional resources for their implementation and do not cause an increase in own resources in the Community.

>Text following EP vote>

Amendments to the ESA 95 methodology which are intended to clarify and improve its content (which is considered to be necessary especially with a view to a binding system of satellite accounts, information on changes of environmental assets, welfare, and domestic and personal services, which fall outside the production boundary) shall be adopted by Commission Decision in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 5, provided that they do not change its underlying concepts, do not require substantial additional resources for their implementation and do not cause a substantial increase in own resources in the Community.

(Amendment 8)

Article 3(1), fourth subparagraph

>Original text>

Not later than 1 January 2005, and on a proposal from the Commission, the Council of the European Union shall decide again on the extra periods of time granted to certain Member States for transmitting data.

>Text following EP vote>

Deleted

(Amendment 9)

Article 3(2)

>Original text>

2. The Member States shall transmit the results of Annex B, including the data which has been declared confidential by the Member States in accordance with national legislation or practice concerning statistical confidentiality, under the provisions of Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

>Text following EP vote>

2. The Member States shall transmit the results of Annex B, including the data which has been declared confidential by the Member States in accordance with national legislation or practice concerning statistical confidentiality, under the provisions of Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

>Text following EP vote>

The above rules on confidentiality shall not interfere with the aim of ensuring that ESA 95 statistical data are comparable and compatible.

(Amendment 10)

Article 3(2a) (new)

>Text following EP vote>

2a. The data obtained by the Commission through the accounts and tables specified in Annex B, other than the confidential data referred to in paragraph 2, shall be accessible to any citizen of the Union making a request to that effect.

(Amendment 11)

Article 5(1)

>Original text>

1. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the Committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The Committee shall deliver its opinion on this draft within a time limit which the Chairman may set in the light of the urgency of the matter in hand. The opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in Article 148(2) of the Treaty establishing the European Community for Decisions which the Council of the European Union is required to adopt on a proposal from the Commission. When the Committee votes, the weightings laid down in the above-mentioned Article shall be applied to the votes of the representatives of the Member States. The Chairman shall not take part in the vote.

>Text following EP vote>

1. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the Committee a draft of the general implementing measures to be taken. The Committee shall deliver its opinion on this draft within a time limit which the Chairman may set in the light of the urgency of the matter in hand. The opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in Article 148(2) of the Treaty establishing the European Community for Decisions which the Council of the European Union is required to adopt on a proposal from the Commission. When the Committee votes, the weightings laid down in the above-mentioned Article shall be applied to the votes of the representatives of the Member States. The Chairman shall not take part in the vote.

(Amendment 12)

Article 5(2)

>Original text>

2. The Commission shall adopt measures that are immediately applicable. However, if they do not accord with the opinion delivered by the Committee, these measures shall be immediately communicated by the Commission to the Council, in which case the Commission shall postpone the application of the measures it has adopted by three months from the date of such communication.

>Text following EP vote>

2. The Commission shall adopt general implementing measures that are immediately applicable. However, if they do not accord with the opinion delivered by the Committee, these measures shall be immediately communicated by the Commission to the Council, in which case the Commission shall postpone the application of the general implementing measures it has adopted by three months from the date of such communication.

(Amendment 18)

Article 7a (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Article 7a

The functioning of ESA 95 shall be evaluated during 1999, and the Commission shall report its findings and possible proposals for change before 1 January 2000. This procedure shall be repeated every third year. Special attention shall be given to the progress in the 'greening' of the ESA 95.

(Amendment 19)

Article 7b (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Article 7b

Information shall be provided to the European Parliament concerning the implications of the introduction of the new ESA for each Member State (i.e. the degree to which economic indicators differ from those calculated on the basis of the 1970 ESA). This information shall be provided before 1 January 2000, with further updates every third year after that date.

(Amendment 20)

Annex A, Chapter VIa (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Chapter VIa

Satellite System for Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounts

Before 1 January 1996, the Commission shall make specific proposals as to which existing data shall be disaggregated or reformulated, which new physical environmental data shall be assembled by the Member States, and the methodology for the subsequent monetarisation of this data.

Legislative resolution embodying Parliament's opinion on the proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) on the European System of National and Regional Accounts in the European Community (COM(94)0593 - C4-0129/95 - 94/0314(CNS))

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission proposal to the Council, COM(94)0593 - 94/0314(CNS),

- having been consulted by the Council pursuant to Article 213 of the EC Treaty,

- having regard to Rule 58 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy (A4-0175/95),

1. Approves the Commission proposal, subject to Parliament's amendments;

2. Calls on the Commission to alter its proposal accordingly, pursuant to Article 189a(2) of the EC Treaty;

3. Calls on the Council to notify Parliament should it intend to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

4. Calls for the conciliation procedure to be opened should the Council intend to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

5. Asks to be consulted again should the Council intend to make substantial modifications to the Commission proposal;

6. Instructs its President to forward this opinion to the Council and Commission.