WRITTEN QUESTION E-0275/00

by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Commission

(7 February 2000)

Subject: Sanctioning the wrongful use of PPPs in Community legal texts

In its reply of 21 December 2218/99(1) the Commission confirmed that PPPs are used in Community legal texts, although there is no legal basis for so doing.

The various arguments used by the Commission to try to establish the legality of such a practice include one to the effect that Portugal (and the other Member States) have always given their approval to the annual results.

Can the Commission supply a copy of any minutes of any meeting relating to any recent year in which the Instituto Nacional de Estatisticas [Portuguese National Statistics Office] approved the PPP results published by Eurostat for Portugal?

Is the Commission unaware of the fact that, by means of letters and statements, the Portuguese statistics authorities have repeatedly questioned the validity of PPPs and, in particular, the use thereof in Community regulations?

(1) OJ C 219, 1.8.2000, p. 124.

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(28 March 2000)

The Commission is careful to avoid publishing results which have been explicitly disapproved by any Member State. It always gives a possibility to Member States to react to results before they are published.

As far as the last publication of Eurostat (Purchasing power parities and related economic indicators results for 1997, 1999 edition) is concerned, during the meeting of the working party on purchasing power parities (PPPs) held in Luxembourg on 21 and 22 June 1999, a working document (PPP-99/P1/10 of 20 June 1999: Item 4 The European Comparison Programme: Detailed results for 1997) was discussed. It stated: The results presented with this document are not considered to be final by Eurostat mldr A definitive calculation will be done in early July, taking into account all comments received by 30th June. This definitive calculation will be circulated to participant countries for final approval in the normal manner.

Neither during this meeting in Luxembourg, nor after the meeting, did the Portuguese delegation make any statement (or complaint) on the validity of PPPs and their use in Community regulations.

On 21 October 1999, a Commission official sent the following e-mail to all Member States' statistical institutes, including the Instituto Nacional de Estatisticas: I am pleased to enclose with this e-mail an explanatory foreword (reference Doc.PPP-99/P1/18) describing the substantial work done to finalise the results package for 1997, together with various appendices.

This document (The European Comparison Programme: Detailed results for 1997), stated (page 3): Next steps to finalise the results: The aggregate-level and survey-level results presented with this document are now considered to be final. Eurostat intends to publish the aggregate-level results during the course of November 1999 in the Detailed Tables series, and will begin publishing the survey-level results in the Statistics in Focus series.

If it had any comments or disapproved, the Portuguese Institute had several weeks to react to this document. The Commission did not receive any negative reactions from any national statistical institute, indicating implicitly that the Instituto Nacional de Estatisticas was satisfied with the PPP statistics finalised by Eurostat.