Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the quality of fiscal data reported by member states in 2006
Date: 2007-04-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Eurostat, budget deficit, economic statistics, member country, public debt, public finance

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 20.4.2007 
COM(2007) 200 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

ON THE QUALITY OF FISCAL DATA REPORTED BY MEMBER STATES IN 2006 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

2. 

Background .................................................................................................................. 3 

Main findings of the 2006 reporting of government deficit and debt levels................ 4 

2.1. 

Timeliness and completeness ....................................................................................... 4 

2.1.1.  Timeliness .................................................................................................................... 4 

2.1.2.  Completeness of tables and supporting information .................................................... 4 

2.2. 

Compliance with accounting rules and consistency of statistical data......................... 5 

2.2.1.  Exchange of information and clarifications ................................................................. 5 

2.2.2.  Dialogue and methodological visits ............................................................................. 5 

2.2.3.  Specific advice, clarifications and decisions by Eurostat ............................................ 6 

2.2.4.  Recent methodological issues ...................................................................................... 6 

2.2.5.  Consistency with underlying government accounts..................................................... 7 

2.3. 

Publication.................................................................................................................... 7 

2.3.1.  Publication of headline figures and detailed reporting tables ...................................... 7 

2.3.2.  Reservations on the quality of data .............................................................................. 8 

2.3.3.  Amendments to the reported data................................................................................. 8 

2.3.4.  Transitional period for the classification of defined-contribution funded pension 

schemes ...................................................................................................................... 10 

2.3.5.  Publication of metadata (inventories) ........................................................................ 10 

3. 

Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 10 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

ON THE QUALITY OF FISCAL DATA REPORTED BY MEMBER STATES IN 2006 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

After  its  revision  in  2005,  Article  8a(3)  of  Council  Regulation  No  3605/931  requires  the 
Commission (Eurostat) to report regularly to the European Parliament and to the Council on 
the quality of the actual data reported by Member States. The report shall address the overall 
assessment  of  the  actual  data  reported  by  Member  States  as  regards  to  the  compliance  with 
accounting rules, completeness, reliability, timeliness, and consistency of the data. 

This is the first report to the European Parliament and Council summarising the main findings 
on  the  quality  of  fiscal  data  based  on  the  EDP  (Excessive  Deficit  Procedure)  reporting  on 
deficit  and  debt  figures.  It  aims  to  give  an  overall  assessment  of  the  statistical  information 
which Member States are required by law to provide. Eurostat regularly assesses the quality 
of  actual  data  reported  by  Member  States,  as  well  as  the  underlying  government  sector 
accounts compiled according to Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the 
European system of national and regional accounts in the Community (ESA95)2.  

The assessment is made mostly after receiving the EDP notifications. Deficit and debt figures 
are sent by Member States to Eurostat twice a year, on 1 April and 1 October. The assessment 
also draws on supplementary information such as the EDP related questionnaires and bilateral 
clarifications by Member States. Several EDP follow-up missions take place during the year 
to maintain an ongoing dialogue with Member States. 

This report is based on the main findings  and results of EDP reporting in 2006 by Member 
States, focusing on the most up-to-date information, i.e. the last reporting exercise (October 
2006), and where appropriate making comparisons with the April 2006 reporting.  

The main conclusions of the EDP dialogue and methodological visits carried out by Eurostat 
during 2006 are set out in an annex.  

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2 

OJ L 332, 31.12.1993, p. 7; Regulation as last amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 2103/2005 (OJ 
L 337, 22.12.2005, p. 1). 
OJ  L  310  of  30.11.1996,  p.  1;  Regulation  as  last  amended  by  Regulation  (EC)  No  1267/2003  of  the 
European Parliament and of the Council of 16 June 2003 (OJ L 180, 18.7.2003, p. 1). 

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2. 

MAIN  FINDINGS  OF  THE  2006  REPORTING  OF  GOVERNMENT  DEFICIT  AND  DEBT 
LEVELS 

2.1. 

Timeliness and completeness 

2.1.1.  Timeliness 

Member States are required to report to the Commission their deficit and debt levels (planned 
and actual data) before 1 April and 1 October of year n3. During 2006, EDP reporting covered 
the years 2002 to 2006. Figures for 2006 are those planned by the national authorities, while 
figures from 2002 to 2005 are final, half-finalised, provisional or estimated. Usually there is 
good  compliance  with  the  reporting  deadlines.  In  the  2006  second  reporting  all  Member 
States,  with  the  exception  of  Luxembourg,  reported  their  data  on,  or  before,  30  September 
2006.  Luxembourg  reported  on  3  October  2006.  For  the  April  reporting  exercise,  Ireland 
reported its figures after the deadline, on 4 April 2006. 

In general, Member States tend to revise their reporting or to finalise their EDP tables after 
the  first  submissions.  In  April  2006,  Eurostat  received  36  revised  submissions  from  19 
countries, while in October 2006, 28 revised submissions were sent by 16 countries4. Most of 
the  revised  submissions  are  sent  in  response  to  comments,  technical  questions  or  remarks 
addressed to the Member States by Eurostat. 

2.1.2.  Completeness of tables and supporting information 

Completion  of  the  reporting  tables  is  a  legal  obligation  and  is  necessary  if  Eurostat  is  to 
monitor  the  quality  of  the  data  properly.  Article  8a(2)  of  Regulation  (EC)  No 3605/93 
specifies  that  Member  States  must  provide  the  Commission  with  the  relevant  statistical 
information, which "in particular (…) means: data from national accounts, inventories, EDP 
notification 
the 
notifications". 

tables,  and  additional  questionnaires  and  clarification  related 

to 

As regards the completeness of reported tables5, most of the Member States completed all of 
the  EDP  notification  tables  (although  completion  of  Table  4  remains  uneven  and  the 
information  incomplete).  In  the  most  recent  October  2006  EDP  notification,  eight  Member 
States  did  not  provide  the  link  between  the  working  balance  and  the  ESA95  government 
surplus/deficit  for  all  the  sub-sectors  or  for  all  years,  or  reported  working  balances  equal  to 
net lending/net borrowing. 

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Article 4(2) and (3) of Regulation (EC) No 3605/93. 
Compared with 19 revised submissions by 10 countries in September 2005, and 15 new submissions by 
eight countries in March 2005. 
The EDP notification tables comprise four tables covering main aggregates such as general government 
deficit/surplus broken down by sub-sector, debt split by financial instruments and GDP (table 1), items 
explaining  the  transition  from  the  working  balance  of  each  sub-sector  to  ESA95–based  government 
balances (tables 2) or the link between the government balance and the change in the debt level (tables 
3), also by sub-sector. Table 4 covers a number of variables not specifically mentioned in legal acts but 
which countries undertook to transmit to the Commission ("trade credits and advances", Gross National 
Income and the difference between the face value and the present value of debt). A description of the 
content  of  these  tables  can  be  found  on  Eurostat's  dedicated  website  on  government  finance: 
(http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=2373,58110711&_dad=portal&_schema=PORT
AL) 

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For  EDP  Table  3,  not  all  Member  States  provided  the  requested  breakdowns  for  the  items 
loans  and  equity  in  Table  3A  (for  general  government),  which  distinguish  between 
acquisitions of assets (generally corresponding to cash outflows) and disposals (cash inflows). 
Nine Member States did not provide the breakdown for loans and six Member States did not 
split equity.  

Eurostat also asked Member States to reply to a questionnaire relating to notification tables6. 
All Member States submitted the questionnaire7, usually together with their notifications. The 
coverage  of  answers  improved  between  April  and  October  2006.  However,  some  Member 
States  failed  to  provide  some  important  information.  For  example,  in  October  2006,  Greece 
did not provide the requested detail on privatisations, and Germany did not provide qualitative 
answers on military expenditure. 

2.2. 

Compliance with accounting rules and consistency of statistical data 

2.2.1.  Exchange of information and clarifications 

During  the  assessment  period  (three  weeks  after  the  1  October  2006  reporting  deadline), 
Eurostat contacted the national statistical authorities of all Member States to request further 
information and to clarify the application of the accounting rules on specific transactions. This 
process  involves  several  rounds  of  correspondence  between  Eurostat  and  the  national 
authorities  within  tight  deadlines.  A  first  round  of  requests  for  clarification  was  sent  by  6 
October  (with  reply  deadlines  of  a  few  days),  and  a  second  round  was  sent  between  10-12 
October  (with  a  couple  of  days  to  reply).  In  a  few  cases,  a  third  or  even  fourth  round  of 
requests  for  clarification  was  sent.  In  some  cases,  Eurostat  asked  for  revised  notification 
tables8. 

In April 2006, a similar approach was followed, with a first round of requests sent by 7 April 
2006 and a second around 12 April, with a final deadline for answering further rounds set at 
18 April 2006. 

2.2.2.  Dialogue and methodological visits 

Regulation  (EC)  No  3605/93  makes  provision  for  dialogue  and  methodological  visits. 
Dialogue visits to Member States are conducted regularly with the aim of reviewing reported 
data, examining methodological issues, discussing statistical sources and processes described 
in the inventories, and assessing compliance with the relevant accounting rules, for example 
on  the  delimitation  of  general  government,  the  time  of  recording  and  the  classification  of 
government  transactions  and  liabilities.  Methodological  visits  are  normally  undertaken  only 
where  the  Commission  (Eurostat)  identifies  substantial  risks  or  potential  problems  with  the 
quality  of  the  data,  especially  where  it  relates  to  the  method,  concepts  and  classification 
applied to data which Member States are obliged to report. 

During  2006,  Eurostat  carried  out  the  following  dialogue  visits:  Portugal  (23-24  January), 
Slovenia  (9-10  February),  Lithuania  (9-10  March),  Malta  (21  March),  France  (5  April), 

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This  questionnaire  comprises  seven  sections  requesting  quantitative  information  in  several  domains 
such as transactions with the EU budget, government guarantees, debt cancellations, capital injections 
made by government into public corporations, etc. 
Cyprus completed the questionnaire for the first time in October 2006.  
See section 2.1. 

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Belgium (10 April), Cyprus (7 June), Ireland (4-5 July), Hungary (20-21 July), Denmark 
(18  September),  Greece  (29  September),  Luxembourg  (20  November)  and  Latvia  (18-19 
December).  The  findings  of  these  visits  are  sent  to  the  EFC  and  made  public  within  a  few 
months on Eurostat’s website. A methodological visit has been conducted in Greece on two 
occasions (from 29 May to 2 June and from 27 to 29 September 2006). Annex 2 summarises 
the  main  conclusions  and  findings  of  these  visits.  In  addition,  dialogue  visits  to  acceding 
countries were made on 20-22 June (Romania) and 10-12 July (Bulgaria). 

2.2.3. 

Specific advice, clarifications and decisions by Eurostat 

Since April 2006, Eurostat has been consulted by a number of countries on various accounting 
issues  in  relation  to  transactions  carried  out  or  still  at  the  planning  stage.  Eurostat  provides 
specific  advice  on  operations  or  arrangements  not  yet  implemented,  i.e.  related  to  planned 
operations  (ex  ante  advice),  rather  than  only  on  past  cases  (clarifications  and  decisions),  in 
accordance  with  the  published  guidelines  for  such  advice9.  Eurostat  is  at  present  consulting 
the Member States concerned to see whether they would be agreeable to publishing the advice 
that was provided to them by Eurostat in the course of 2006. Eurostat plans to publish on its 
dedicated website on government finance the advice given to Member States (i.e. in the form 
of a letter).  

2.2.4.  Recent methodological issues 

As usual, Eurostat devoted attention in 2006 to the application of ESA95 rules which have 
been  the  object  of  its  most  recent  decisions  clarifying  certain  methodological  aspects  of  the 
rules, with the objective of ensuring their implementation by Member States. The most recent 
published  Eurostat  methodological  decisions  are  "Flows  from  and  to  the  EU  budget"  and 
"Military expenditure". 

Flows  from  and  to  the  EU  budget.  The  application  of  the  Eurostat  decision  clarifying  the 
treatment of transfers from the EU budget to Member States10 is still under investigation for a 
number of  Member States. Most of the  Member States have stated that they fully apply the 
Eurostat  decision,  the  exceptions  being  Denmark,  Germany,  France,  Luxembourg  and 
Sweden. 

Military  expenditure.  This  Eurostat  decision  clarifies  how  to  record  the  acquisition  of 
military  expenditure11.  21  Member  States  seem  to  do  so  on  a  delivery  basis  (two  Member 
States  report  no  acquisition  of  military  equipment),  or  to  use  a  proxy  such  that,  given  the 
current situation for military contracts, the difference vis-à-vis cash figures is unlikely to be 
significant. The Eurostat decision does not seem to have been fully applied by Germany and 
Greece. Both these countries still record the acquisition of military equipment expenditure on 
a pure cash basis. 

Other  conceptual  issues  of  general  interest  were  raised  by  Eurostat  in  2006.  Eurostat  is 
currently  discussing  with  the  relevant  technical  working  groups  the  accounting  treatment  of 
issues  that  will  impact  on  government  finance  statistics:  securitisation  operations 

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http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/PGP_DS_GFS/PGE_DS_GFS_0/TAB_MET/EU 
ROSTAT%20EX-ANTE%20ADVISE-%2019%20JULY%202006%20-%20FINAL%20(2)_1.PDF 
"The treatment of transfers from the EU budget to Member States" of 15 February 2005 (Eurostat News 
Release 22/2005). 
"The recording of military equipment expenditures" of 9 March 2006 (Eurostat News Release 31/2006). 

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undertaken by government, payments for the use of roads, impaired government claims, 
transfer  of  pension  commitments  and  carbon  emission  rights.  All  of  them  (except  the 
latter) were originally announced in the April 2006 News Release and mentioned as well in 
the October 2006 News Release.  

2.2.5.  Consistency with underlying government accounts 

The  new  deadlines  for  notification,  set  by  Regulation  (EC)  No 3605/93,  of  1  April  and  1 
October  of  each  year,  were  introduced  in  order  to  ensure  consistency  with  underlying 
annual  and  quarterly  government  sector  accounts,  as  reported  in  various  ESA95 
transmissions to Eurostat. The new deadlines were applied for the first time in 2006. Thus, the 
assessment exercise carried out by Eurostat in 2006 prior to publication of the EDP reporting 
included  systematically  analysing  the  consistency  of  the  EDP  notification  with  other 
transmissions  on  the  underlying  government  sector  accounts.  For  example,  totals  of 
expenditure and revenue should be consistent with the reported deficit figures. Wherever there 
were deviations, or where EDP data were revised, Eurostat asked Member States to send in 
aligned  expenditure  and  revenue  figures.  Revenue  and  expenditure  data  as  a  percentage  of 
GDP were also published in the Eurostat News Release on government deficit and debt. 

The  overall  consistency  of  EDP  data  with  reported  ESA95  government  accounts  is 
satisfactory. Compared to April 2006, which was the first time this exercise was undertaken, 
there is evidence that consistency is improving, notably on the financial side. 

2.3. 

Publication 

2.3.1.  Publication of headline figures and detailed reporting tables 

Article 8g of Regulation (EC) No 3605/93 states: "The Commission (Eurostat) shall provide 
the  actual  government  deficit  and  debt  data  for  the  application  of  the  Protocol  on  the 
excessive  deficit  procedure,  within  three  weeks  after  the  reporting  deadlines  (…).  This 
provision of data shall be effected through publication". 

The government deficit and debt data were published on 24 April 2006 and 23 October 2006 
(excluding the planned data for 2006)12. Published data are shown in Annex 1. On 23 October 
2006,  Eurostat  put  all  reporting  tables,  as  notified  by  countries  in  their  last  submission  to 
Eurostat,  on  the  Government  Finance  section  of  its  website.  Eurostat  also  publishes  on  its 
website13 the annual government finance statistics that underpin the EDP data, together with 
information  on  stock-flow  adjustment,  for  the  Member  States,  the  euro  area,  and  EU-25. 
Quarterly revenue and expenditure, quarterly financial accounts and quarterly debt figures of 
general government are also published. 

According  to  Regulation  (EC)  No 3605/93,  Member  States  should  make  public  their  actual 
data  on  deficit  and  debt.  Only  thirteen  Member  States  have  reported  to  Eurostat  that  they 

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13 

Eurostat News Releases Nos 48/2006 and 139/2006. 
The Government Finance section (opened in April 2006) on Eurostat’s website provides public access 
to information on statistics for the Excessive Deficit Procedure and the underlying government sector 
accounts, including notified data and underlying accounts, methodological decisions and manuals, and 
findings of EDP dialogue visits: 
(http://epp.eurostat.cec.eu.int/portal/page?_pageid=2373,47631312,2373_58674332&_dad=portal&_sc
hema=PORTAL). 

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publish  or  are  now  starting  to  publish  all  reporting  tables  (Belgium,  Denmark,  Estonia, 
Ireland, Cyprus, Latvia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Finland, Sweden and the 
United Kingdom). While there would still appear to be substantial room for improvement, it is 
promising  to  see  that  six  more  Member  States  are  now  publishing  the  reporting  tables 
compared with April 2006. 

2.3.2.  Reservations on the quality of data 

In  October  2006,  Eurostat  withdrew  the  reservations  on  reported  data  for  the  April  2006 
figures for Belgium and Greece, and no other reservations on the data were made. 

In the case of Belgium, the reservation was withdrawn following amendment of the data by 
Eurostat  for  2005  (see  section  2.3.3).  The  April  2006  reservation  indicated  that:  "Eurostat 
considers that the assumption by government in 2005 of 7400 million euro of the debt of the 
railway  company  SNCB  must  result,  according  to  ESA95  rules,  in  a  capital  transfer  from 
government to SNCB, with an impact on the government deficit by the same amount (equal to 
2.5%  of  GDP).  However,  the  Belgian  statistical  authorities  have  informed  Eurostat  of  the 
intention  of  the  Belgian  government  to  introduce  legislation  to  retroactively  annul  this 
operation.  The  accounting  consequences  of  this  must  be  clarified  before  the  next  EDP 
notification in October 2006." 

In the case of Greece, the reservations expressed on the reported data in the September 2005 
and  April  2006  notifications  were  also  withdrawn.  This  followed  the  findings  of  the 
methodological  visits  carried  out  in  June  2006  and  September  2006  on  the  recording  of 
transactions  with  the  EU  budget,  the  accounts  of  social  security  and  extra-budgetary  funds, 
and the amounts of other receivables and payables, which resulted in a noticeable revision of 
the  Greek  deficit  for  2002-2005.  The  April  2006  reservation  indicated  that:  "Despite  the 
recent improvement in the statistical processes and good cooperation between Eurostat and 
the national statistical authorities of Greece, issues remain related to the Greek government 
accounts of a structural and systemic nature. Eurostat will undertake a methodological visit 
in the coming weeks in order to clarify the pending issues". In the 26 September 2005 News 
Release,  a  reservation  on  the  Greek  data  was  indicated  as  follows:  “Some  pending  issues 
remain for the recording of EU transactions, the accounts of social security and the amounts 
of other receivables and payables for years 2002-2004”. 

2.3.3.  Amendments to the reported data  

In  2006,  Eurostat  amended  the  fiscal  data  reported  by  three  Member  States  (Belgium14, 
France and the United Kingdom). In October 2006, amendments were made to data reported 
by  Belgium  and  the  United  Kingdom.  Eurostat  has  also  decided  not  to  use  the  GDP  data 
notified by Greece in October 2006, and given the magnitude and complexity of this revision, 
Eurostat is carrying out a complete verification of GDP data. In April 2006, amendments were 
made to the data reported by the United Kingdom and to deficit figures reported by France. 

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Belgium  challenged  Eurostat  amendment  of  data  in  the  Court  of  First  Instance  (Case  T-403/06, 
Belgium/Commission). 

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The  explanations  provided  by  Eurostat  in  both  the  April  and  the  October  reporting  were  as 
follows15:  

October 2006 EDP reporting 

Belgium:  "Eurostat  has  amended  the  deficit  and  debt  data  notified  by  Belgium  for  2005  in 
relation  to  the  assumption  by  government  (FIF  -  Fonds  de  l'Infrastructure  Ferroviaire)  in 
2005  of  EUR 7  400  million  (2.5%  of  GDP)  of  the  debt  of  the  railway  company  SNCB. 
According to ESA95 rules, the impact on the  government deficit is of the same amount; the 
impact  on  the  government  debt  at  the  end of  2005  amounts  to  EUR  5  200  million  (1.7%  of 
GDP)". 

The  question  relates  to  the  accounting  impact  of  the  Belgian  railways  restructuring,  when 
SNCB was split into several entities, notably: an operator (SNCB), an infrastructure manager 
(Infrabel), and a specific entity (FIF) that took over a large part of the old SNCB debt towards 
the market, of EUR 7400 million (2.5% of GDP). Based on an analysis of the details of the 
operation, Eurostat considers that FIF must be classified inside government, and that the EUR 
7400 million debt should therefore count as government debt. Furthermore, Eurostat considers 
that  this  debt  increase  should  be  reflected  in  the  deficit,  as  this  debt  assumption  does  not 
qualify for any of the three exceptions provided for in ESA95 paragraph 5.16 (privatisation, 
quasi-corporation, or disappearance of a unit). 

United Kingdom (an identical statement was also published in April 2006): "Eurostat has 
amended the data notified by the United Kingdom for years 2002 to 2005 for consistency of 
recording of UMTS licence proceeds. This leads to an increase in the government deficits for 
2002, 2004 and 2005 (as well as for financial years 2002/03, 2004/05 and 2005/06) by GBP 
1045  million  (0.1%  of  GDP)  and  for  2003  (financial  year  2003/04)  by  GBP  1044  million 
(0.1%  of  GDP).  There  is  no  change  in  the  reported  debt  figures".  This  amendment  to  the 
United Kingdom data has been made routinely by Eurostat in previous years, and reflects the 
fact  that  the  national  statistical  authorities  have  continued  to  notify  data  without  taking  into 
account  the  2000  Eurostat  decision  on  the  classification  of  UMTS  mobile  phone  licence 
proceeds. According to this decision, such proceeds must be recorded as deficit-reducing in 
the  year  of  allocation  of  the  licences,  while  the  United  Kingdom  reports  such  proceeds  as 
accruing during the whole life of the licences. 

Greece: "Eurostat is using for the purpose of this EDP notification the GDP figures notified 
in April 2006, and not the revised GDP data reported by the Greek authorities on 1 October 
2006.  Given  the  magnitude  and  complexity  of  the  revised  GDP  data  (an  increase  of  25% 
compared  to  the  old  figures),  Eurostat  will  carry  out  a  complete  verification  of  GDP  data 
once  Greece  has  delivered  a  full  inventory  of  the  sources  and  methods  used  for  the  new 
calculations". 

April 2006 EDP reporting 

France: "Eurostat has amended the deficit data notified by France for the year 2005, due to a 
reclassification as a capital transfer of a capital injection in the railway company SNCF, by 

15 

Under  Article  8h(2) of  Council  Regulation (EC) No 3605/93,  the  Commission  (Eurostat)  may  amend 
actual  data  reported  by  Member  States  and  provide  the  amended  data  and  a  justification  of  the 
amendment where there is evidence that the actual data reported by Member States do not comply with 
the requirements of Article 8a(1). 

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an  amount  of  250  million  euro  (0.01%  of  GDP).  There  is  no  change  in  the  reported  debt 
figures". The French government carried out an injection to SNCF Fret which was considered 
by  the  Commission  as  compatible  state  aid.  Whether  such  a  transaction  is  classified  as  a 
capital transfer or as an acquisition of equity depends on the substance rather than the form of 
the operation, and notably whether the event covers past losses or whether government acts 
similarly to a private investor. Eurostat considers that, based  on  the various elements of  the 
case, notably Commission Decision No C(2004)3955 under State Aid, the operation was not 
of an investment type and should be booked as a capital transfer. 

2.3.4.  Transitional  period  for  the  classification  of  defined-contribution  funded  pension 

schemes 

In  an  annex  to  its  news  releases,  Eurostat,  as  customary,  provided  information  on  the 
estimated  effect  of  its  decision  on  the  sectoral  classification  of  defined-contribution  funded 
pension schemes for those Member States that avail themselves of the transitional period until 
March 2007. 

At  the  end  of  the  transitional  period,  the  deficit  and  surplus  figures  for  2005  reported  by 
Member States and published by Eurostat will have to be revised as follows16: for Denmark, 
the  surplus  will  be  revised  downwards  by  0.9%  of  GDP  to  4.0%  of  GDP;  for  Hungary,  the 
deficit will be revised upwards by 1.3% of GDP to 7.8% of GDP; for Poland, the deficit will 
be  revised  upwards  by  1.9%  of  GDP  to  4.4%  of  GDP;  and  for  Sweden,  the  surplus  will  be 
revised downwards by 1.0% of GDP to 2.0% of GDP. 

Debt will be revised upwards by 0.3% of GDP for Denmark, by 3.9% of GDP for Hungary, 
by 5.3% of GDP for Poland and by 0.6% of GDP for Sweden. The variable impact on debt 
reflects the different strategies governing investment of those funds in government bonds or in 
other assets, such as bonds issued by non-government entities or shares. 

2.3.5.  Publication of metadata (inventories17) 

Denmark,  France,  Austria,  Finland  and  the  United  Kingdom  reported  that  they  had  already 
published  their  inventories,  while  Belgium,  Estonia,  Greece,  Ireland,  Cyprus,  Latvia, 
Lithuania,  Luxembourg,  the  Netherlands,  Poland,  Slovenia  and  Sweden  reported  their 
intention to publish them soon. Publication of the inventories, which will be made public on 
Eurostat's website during 2007, is mandatory under the Regulation.  

3. 

CONCLUSIONS  

In  general,  progress  on  improving  the  quality  of  fiscal  data  was  made  during  2006,  with 
Member States transmitting more complete information to Eurostat on both EDP notification 
tables  and  on  the  questionnaires  relating  to  notification  tables.  Overall  consistency  of  EDP 
data  with  reported  ESA95  government  accounts  is  now  satisfactory  and  is  improving, 
particularly on the financial side, when compared with the situation in April 2006. 

16 

17 

The  classification  of  those pension  schemes  outside  general  government,  for  data  notified  from  April 
2007  onwards,  will  lead  to  an  increase  in  the  deficit  /  a  reduction  in  the  surplus,  together  with  an 
increase in debt levels. 
Inventories of the methods, procedures and sources used to compile actual deficit and debt data and the 
underlying government accounts. 

EN 

10 

   EN 

 
                                                 
In this context, the number of reservations on reported data decreased during 2006, and those 
expressed  by  Eurostat  in  April  2006  were  afterwards  withdrawn  in  October  2006.  No  new 
reservations on the data were published in October 2006. 

Nonetheless, given such a demanding statistical framework, some problems remain regarding 
compliance  with  accounting  rules  and  the  quality  of  some  of  the  statistical  information 
provided. The Commission would therefore urge Member States to continue investing in the 
quality of government finance statistics with a view to meeting the requirements of the Treaty. 
This  is  the  only  way  to  achieve  the  desired  level  of  quality  as  regards  compliance  with  the 
accounting rules, completeness, reliability, timeliness and consistency of government data. 

EN 

11 

   EN