Opinion of the European Monetary Institute on a consultation from the Council of the European Union under Article 109 f (6) of the Treaty establishing the European Community as amended by the Treaty on European Union (the “Treaty”) and Article 5.3 of the Statute of the EMI; on a Draft Council Decision amending Council Decision 91/115/EEC establishing a Committee on monetary, financial and balance of payment statistics (the “Committee”) (COM (94) 452 final (CON/94/9)
Date: 1995-01-16
Institutions: European Monetary Institute
Subjects: EU statistics, advisory committee (EU), economic statistics, financial statistics, second stage of EMU

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN MONETARY INSTITUTE

on  a  consultation  from  the  Council  of  the  European  Union  under  Article  109  f  (6)  of  the  Treaty

establishing the European Community as amended by the Treaty on European Union (the “Treaty”) and

Article 5.3 of the Statute of the EMI;

on  a  Draft  Council  Decision  amending  Council  Decision  91/115/EEC  establishing  a  Committee  on

monetary, financial and balance of payment statistics (the “Committee”) (COM (94) 452 final).

CON/94/9

1.

The  present  consultation  was  initiated  on  16  December  1994  by  the  Council  of  the  European

Union  which,  for  this  purpose,  transmitted  document  “COM  (94)  152  final”  containing  the

proposed Council Decision and an explanatory memorandum to the EMI.

2.

The  main  tasks  of  the  Committee  are  to  enhance  co-operation  in  the  field  of  statistics  of  its

concern and to provide opinions to all relevant parties. The draft Council Decision aims at granting

full  member  status  of  the  Committee  to  the  EMI,  whilst  it  also  empowers  the  Committee  to

express  opinions  on  its  own  initiative  on  any  questions  relating  to  those  statistics  that  are  of

common  concern  to  the  Commission  and  national  statistical  authorities  on  the  one  hand  and  the

EMI and national central banks on the other hand.

3.

The  EMI  welcomes  the  draft  Decision  for  various  reasons.  For  the  EMI,  the  harmonisation  of

statistics  in  the  European  Union  is  particularly  important  in  the  context  of  its  objective  of

strengthening  the  co-ordination  of  monetary  policies  with  a  view  to  ensuring  price  stability  in  the

second stage of EMU and making the preparations required for the establishment of the European

System  of  Central  Banks  and  for  the  conduct  of  a  single  monetary  policy.  The  necessary

harmonisation  will  relate  to  statistics  which  are  of  primary  interest  to  the  EMI  (and  later  to  the

European  Central  Bank)  in  the  monetary  financial  and  balance  of  payment  area.  A  number  of

these  statistics  are  of  interest  to  the  Commission  as  well,  for  example  in  the  balance  of  payment

field.  It  will  also  extend  to  other  statistics  of  common  interest  to  the  EMI  and  the  ECB  and  the

Commission  such  as  statistics  concerning  convergence  criteria.  Indeed,  whilst  the  Commission  is

responsible for providing the relevant data, the Treaty provides that both the Commission and the

EMI  shall  report  to  the  European  Council  on  progress  made  by  the  Member  States  in  the

fulfilment of their obligations regarding the achievement of economic and monetary union.

-   2   -

4. With a view to the above, the EMI believes that the Committee will be an appropriate  forum  for

discussions  on  statistical  matters  and  therefore  welcomes  the  extension  of  its  powers  to  express

opinions,  whilst  the  EMI  feels  that  its  full  membership  of  the  Committee  will  at  the  same  time

facilitate a cost effective promotion of harmonisation of statistics in fields of common interest.

16th January 1995