WRITTEN QUESTION E-4000/03 by Herbert Bösch (PSE) to the Commission. Reforms at Eurostat.
Date: 2004-01-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Eurostat, accession to the European Union, dissemination of EU information, operation of the Institutions, personnel administration, social survey, statistics, technical cooperation

C 78 E/890

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

(2004/C 78 E/0941)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-4000/03

by Herbert Bösch (PSE) to the Commission

(7 January 2004)

Subject: Reforms at Eurostat

The reforms introduced at Eurostat following the financial irregularities there include a new organisational
structure. Social statistics, which used to come under Directorate E, have been transferred to Directorate D
(previously Business Statistics) while population statistics have been transferred to the department
responsible for external relations.

The minutes of the 51st meeting of the Statistical Programme Committee held on 20 November 2003
state that Eurostat should concentrate on its core business. They also mention that there is scope for
savings in the social statistics sphere where a series of negative priorities could be identified: house
building, time use survey, healthcare, discrimination, disabled people, the homeless, in other words, a
whole range of social statistics.

1.

Can the Commission say what projects will be or have been cut or abandoned since July 2003?

2.

Does the Commission share the view that social statistics will continue to be a negative priority?

3.
Does the Commission not see it as paradoxical to cut statistics relating to disabled people in the
European Year for People with Disabilities? Does the Commission consider that gender mainstreaming or
combating racism and discrimination against women are consistent with cuts
in statistics on
discrimination?

4.

Have cuts already been made in the statistical component of enlargement?

Have there been delays in publishing statistics in the last few months or are such delays imminent?

5.
If so, which statistics were concerned and what were the reasons?

6.
Is Eurostat’s establishment plan too small for it to carry out activities that go beyond its core
business? If so, how many additional posts are required to enable it to operate satisfactorily and has the
Commission already planned for these extra posts or requested additional funds for staff expenditure, and
if not why not?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(8 March 2004)

Despite the events of 2003, constant efforts were made to ensure that the essential statistics were
produced. A great deal of thought still had to be given to the matter, involving the Member States in the
Statistical Programming Committee (SPC) and the other Directorates-General in the Commission, designed
to focus Eurostat’s statistical work on priority requests. A scale of priorities was thus laid down, based on
the requirements of the Treaty, existing regulations, the needs of the common policies and the duty to
inform the public. The statistical programme for 2004 was drawn up on this basis, presented to the SPC
for its opinion and adopted by the Commission on 5 February 2004. It sets out in detail for each subject
area all the work in progress and the new work, in order of priority. This document is being sent direct to
the Honourable Member and to the Parliament’s Secretariat.

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/891

The annual statistical programme contributes to the priorities of the five-year statistical programme, one of
which is completion of the social agenda. Social aspects are also taken into account in all statistics relating
to the internal market. The work programme finally adopted by the Commission does in fact include some
of the social statistics referred to by the Honourable Member, such as those on disabled persons or time
use surveys, plus of course statistics on social protection, living conditions and household incomes, the
labour force and employment.

The Commission is indeed mindful of the needs of disabled people and the requirement for statistical
information, especially in relation to the European Year for People with Disabilities. For instance, Theme
35 ‘Health and Safety’ of the 2004 Statistical Programme refers to the further development of a common
module on disability in the context of the European Health Interview Survey. Commission policy on
gender mainstreaming is not affected since all individual data will continue to be collected by gender and
this dimension will feature systematically in the presentation of the statistics. Concerning racism and
discrimination against women, the Commission has never collected statistics on these topics, which would
incidentally be very difficult
to quantify using available statistical methods. Regarding statistics on
homelessness, an exploratory study carried out by Eurostat revealed that it is very difficult to collect cross-
country comparable statistics on this issue, and that there is still a sore lack of statistical capacity or
political will to collect this type of statistics at the national level.

The assistance programmes for statistics for the acceding and remaining candidate countries will continue
according to long-term planning. The Honourable Member will be aware that the Accession Treaty
provides for continued institution-building assistance in the field of statistics for the ten acceding countries
even after accession, under the Transition Facility.

Despite the termination of certain contracts connected with the preparation of statistical publications, the
pace and quality of dissemination of statistical information has been maintained, as shown by the stable
number of press releases issued by Eurostat or the 10 % increase in the number of titles published in 2003
in the ‘Statistics in Focus’ series. The Honourable Member’s attention is drawn to the new strategy applied
to the dissemination of statistical information. On the basis of the principle that statistical information is a
public service, all the statistical data produced and gathered by Eurostat should be accessible free of charge
to users and available on the Internet. This strategy is set out in greater detail in the Action Plan for
Eurostat referred to below.

On the staffing side, a detailed internal review of the allocation of human resources was conducted in
January 2004 in order to match Eurostat’s resources to the priorities to be applied in the work programme
and to organise as efficiently as possible the reintegration of certain activities which in the past had been
outsourced. Some additional posts were awarded in the final allocation of human resources for 2004 and
the additional requirements are being considered in connection with the annual policy strategy for 2005.

Finally the Commission has been informed of the 2004 Action Plan for Eurostat, which determines the
work priorities and the arrangements for implementing the statistical programme and takes stock of all the
actions undertaken by Eurostat and those planned for 2004. This Action Plan is being sent direct to the
Honourable Member and to Parliament’s Secretariat.

(2004/C 78 E/0942)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-4005/03

by Anna Terrón i Cusí (PSE) to the Commission

(7 January 2004)

Subject: Discrimination against Community children as regards access to sports federations in Spain

Any person who is a national of a Member State enjoys citizenship of the European Union, and any form
of discrimination against them on the grounds of their nationality is prohibited under the Treaties and
Articles 4 and 8 of the Draft European Constitution.