REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the quality of fiscal data reported by Member States in 2010
Date: 2011-04-11
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, Eurostat, budget deficit, economic statistics, public debt, public finance, publication of accounts

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 11.4.2011 
COM(2011) 187 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL  

on the quality of fiscal data reported by Member States in 2010 

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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 2010 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

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

1.1. 

Amended regulation ..................................................................................................... 3 

2. 

Main findings on the 2010 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 

2.1.3.  Supplementary tables relating to the financial turmoil ................................................ 5 

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 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 .............................................................................. 7 

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

2.3.4.  Publication of metadata (inventories) .......................................................................... 8 

3. 

Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 8 

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1. 

BACKGROUND 

Article  8(3)  of  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  479/2009  on  the  application  of  the 
Protocol  on  the  excessive  deficit  procedure  annexed  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the 
European Community1 requires the Commission (Eurostat) (hereinafter referred to as 
“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 provides an overall 
assessment of compliance with accounting rules, completeness, reliability, timeliness 
and consistency of the data.  

Eurostat regularly assesses the quality of the actual data reported by Member States 
and  of  the  underlying  general  government  sector  accounts  compiled  in  accordance 
with 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 
mainly  based  on  data  regarding  the  general  government's  budget  execution  and 
general government assets and liabilities. This work concentrates on the factors that 
explain  the  general  government  deficit/surplus  and  the  change  in  the  general 
government debt. Member States send this information to Eurostat twice a year. This 
also  includes  supplementary  information  such  as  the  “Questionnaire  relating  to  the 
EDP notification tables” and bilateral clarifications by Member States. Eurostat also 
undertakes  regular  EDP  dialogue  visits  in  each  Member  State  to  maintain  a 
continuous dialogue with Member States.  

This report is based on the main findings and results of the EDP reporting in 2010, 
focusing  on  the  latest  (October  2010)  reporting  exercise.  Where  appropriate, 
comparisons are made with the April 2010 reporting, as well as with the April and 
October 2009 reporting. 

1.1. 

Amended regulation 

Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  479/2009  was  amended  in  July  2010  as  regards  the 
quality of statistical data in the context of the excessive deficit procedure3.  

The regulation as amended provides in particular the basis for EDP methodological 
visits  "in  exceptional  cases  where  significant  risks  or  problems  with  respect  to  the 
quality  of  data  have  been  clearly  identified".  Eurostat  will  inform  the  EFC  and  the 
CMFB  about  its  decision  to  undertake  such  a  visit.  The  frequency  of  the  EDP 
dialogue visits will also increase.  

The  regulation  also  empowers  Eurostat  and  the  NSIs  to  examine  the  data  sources 
from which the statistical data is derived and the process by which these data sources 
are compiled4. Additionally, Eurostat can examine the completeness of the groups of 
units  covered  by  these  data  sources.  This  would  enable  Eurostat  to  draw  detailed 
conclusions  as  to  the  quality  of  reported  data,  as  described  in  Article  8(1).  The 
combination of extended powers to both Eurostat and the NSIs is meant to build up a 
regular  preventive  system  applicable  to  all  Member  states  with  the  threefold 
objective of better monitoring, identifying and assessing risks in a preventive manner 
with the view of initiating corrective actions at the earliest possible point.  

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OJ L 145, 10.6.2009, p. 1. 
OJ L 310, 30.11.1996, p. 1. 
Council Regulation (EC) No 679/2010 (OJ L 199, 30.7.2010, p. 1. 
A risk based approach is being developed in that respect. 

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The  implementation  of  the  strengthened  powers  described  above,  and  actions  to 
address  the  general  issues  of  systemic  risk  in  national  statistical  systems  –  as 
identified  by  the  European  Statistical  Governance  Advisory  Board  –  will  be  the 
subject of a forthcoming Commission Communication. 

2. 

MAIN  FINDINGS  ON  THE  2010  REPORTING  OF  GOVERNMENT  DEFICIT  AND  DEBT 
LEVELS 

2.1. 

Timeliness and completeness 

2.1.1.  Timeliness 

Member  States  are  required  to  report  their  planned  and  actual  budget  and  balance 
sheet  data  to  the  Commission  twice  a  year,  before  1  April  and  1  October5.  During 
2010,  the  EDP  reporting  covered  the  years  2006  to  2010.  The  figures  for  2010  are 
those planned by the national authorities, while the 2006 to 2009 figures are actual 
data (this means final, semi-finalised, provisional or estimated figures). 

Compliance  with  the  reporting  deadlines  is  usually  very  good.  In  the  second 
reporting in 2010 all Member States reported their data before the legal deadline of 1 
October  2010.  The  Greek  authorities  sent  a  further  notification  on  10  November 
following a methodological visit6. In the April reporting exercise, all Member States 
reported  their  figures  before  1  April  2010,  except  Greece  (on  1  April)  and  France 
(who sent the planned data for the year 2010 only on 12 April 2010). 

Some Member States revised their reporting after their first submission. In October 
2010,  29  revised  submissions  were  sent  by  18  countries,  compared  to  April  2010 
when  25  revised  submissions  were  sent  by  16  countries.  With  the  exception  of 
Greece  which  conducted  major  revisions,  Member  States  sent  most  of  the  revised 
submissions  in  response  to  comments,  technical  questions  or  remarks  by  Eurostat, 
and  they  concerned  corrections  of  minor  errors,  internal  inconsistencies  or 
inappropriate recording within tables 

2.1.2.  Completeness of tables and supporting information 

Completion of the reporting tables is a legal obligation and is essential if Eurostat is 
to  monitor  the  quality  of  the  data  properly.  Article  8(2)  of  Regulation  (EC) 
No 479/2009  specifies  that  Member  States  must  provide  Eurostat  with  the  relevant 
statistical information, which 

“(…) in particular (…) means:  

(a)  data from national accounts; 

(b) 

inventories; 

(c)  EDP notification tables; 

(d)  additional questionnaires and clarification related to the notifications.” 

The EDP notification tables consist of four main (sets of) tables. The completion of 
EDP tables 1 to 3 is a legal obligation, whereas reporting of EDP table 4 was agreed 

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Article 3 (1) and (3) of Regulation (EC) No 479/2009. 
Details on the Greek fiscal data are included in the Eurostat report "Information note on Greek fiscal 
data" 
the  Eurostat  website: 
is 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/introduction. 

15  November 

available 

2010 

from 

that 

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by  Member States7.  Tables  1 and 2A (central government) cover the years 2006 to 
2010, whilst the other tables cover the years 2006 to 20098. 
Most Member States completed all EDP notification tables9. However in the October 
2010  reporting,  for  EDP  Tables  2,  eight  Member  States  either  did  not  provide  the 
link between the working balance and the EDP surplus/deficit for all the sub-sectors 
or for all the years, or reported working balances equal to the EDP surplus/deficit. 

For EDP Table 3, not all Member States provided all the breakdowns. In particular 
the details requested for the items 'loans' and 'equity' were often missing.  

All  Member  States  submitted  their  replies  to  the  “Questionnaire  relating  to  the 
notification  tables”10.  Although  the  coverage  and  quality  of  answers  improved 
compared to past years, some countries did not report all the details requested in the 
questionnaire. 

2.1.3. 

Supplementary tables relating to the financial turmoil 

Eurostat  has  collected  a  set  of  data  on  the  financial  turmoil  in  two  supplementary 
tables  since  15  July  2009.  These  tables  show  government  interventions  directly 
related  to  the  support  of  financial  institutions.  Support  measures  for  non-financial 
institutions or general economic support measures are not included. 

The data collected in 2010 referred to 2007, 2008 and 2009. However, it should be 
mentioned  that  most  of  the  interventions  occurred  in  2008.  Only  one  country  (the 
United Kingdom) already reported contingent liabilities for 2007. 

2.2. 

Compliance with accounting rules and consistency of statistical data 

2.2.1.  Exchange of information and clarifications 

During the assessment period between the reporting deadline of 30 September 2010 
and  the  publication  of  the  data  on  22  October,  Eurostat  contacted  the  national 
statistical  authorities  in  every  Member  State  to  request  further  information  and  to 
clarify  application  of  the  accounting  rules  on  specific  transactions.  This  process 
involved  several  rounds  of  correspondence  between  Eurostat  and  the  national 
authorities. A first round of requests for clarification was sent before 6 October and a 
second  round  of  requests  was  sent  to  22  countries.  For  some  countries,  Eurostat 
asked for revised notification tables11.  

2.2.2.  Dialogue and methodological visits 

Regulation  (EC)  No  479/2009  (amended  by  Regulation  (EC)  No  679/2010)  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 

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See the statements to the Council minutes of 22 November 1993. 
Provision of planned data in EDP tables other than table 1 and 2A is not explicitly requested in Council 
Regulation (EC) No 479/2009, as amended. 
A  detailed  description  of  the  content  of  these  tables  can  be  found  on  Eurostat’s  website.  See: 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=2373,58110711&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTA
L. 
This  questionnaire  comprises  thirteen  sections  requesting  quantitative  and  sometimes  qualitative 
information  in  several  areas,  such  as  transactions  in  taxes  and  social  contributions  and  with  the  EU, 
acquisition  of  military  equipment,  government  guarantees,  debt  cancellations,  capital  injections  made 
by government into public corporations, Public-Private Partnerships, etc. 
See section 2.1. 

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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  undertaken  only  where  Eurostat  has  identified  significant 
risks  or  problems  with  respect  to  the  quality  of  the  data,  especially  relating  to  the 
methods, concepts or classifications used.  

During the year 2010, Eurostat carried out the following EDP visits: Finland (25-26 
January),  Greece  (several  EDP  methodological  visits),  The  Netherlands  (15  June), 
Malta  (6-7  July),  Hungary  (6-7  July),  Romania  (6-7  September),  Bulgaria  (16-17 
September),  Ireland  (16  –  17  November),  Lithuania  (22  -  23  November),  Belgium 
(26 November), France (29 November) and Cyprus (13 December).  

in  2010.  These 
A  series  of  methodological  visits 
methodological  visits  were  a  follow-up  to  the  reservation  of  Eurostat  on  the  Greek 
deficit and debt figures reported in October 2009, and the Commission's subsequent 
report on Greek statistics, released in January 201012. 

took  place 

to  Greece 

Recurring issues discussed during the visits included the classification of units within 
or  outside  the  general  government  sector (e.g.  concerning  public  transport,  TV  and 
radio, hospitals and universities), capital injections, Public-Private Partnerships, EU 
flows and the recording of guarantees. 

2.2.3. 

Specific advice by Eurostat 

Member  States  regularly  consulted  Eurostat  to  clarify  various  accounting  issues  in 
relation to operations which were planned or  already carried out. Eurostat provides 
advice in accordance with the existing guidelines. To comply with the transparency 
provision in Regulation (EC) No 479/2009 Eurostat publishes its advice13, unless the 
Member State concerned raises an objection. Eurostat published the following advice 
in  2010:  Belgium  (Sector  Classification  of  Antwerp  Masterplan  Projects  and 
Recording in National Accounts EDP of government bonds´ collaterals in derivative 
contracts), Ireland (Preliminary view on the ESA95 accounting treatment of time of 
recording  of  interest  payments  on  promissory  notes  payable  to  Anglo  Irish  Bank), 
The  Netherlands  (Recording  of  the  illiquid  assets  back-up  facility  for  ING  Bank), 
Hungary (Time of recording of transactions for return of certain groups of people to 
the  Erste 
the  social  security  system),  Germany  (Sector  classification  of 
Abwicklungsanstalt) and Spain (Classification of a road network project run by the 
Autonomous  Community  of  Aragon).  Eurostat  provided  advice  in  2010  on  several 
methodological  issues  which  were  not  published  at  the  request  of  the  concerned 
Member States.  

2.2.4.  Recent methodological issues 

As usual, Eurostat paid close attention to the application of the ESA95 rules and, in 
particular,  to  its  latest  decisions.  These  decisions  are  included  in  the  Manual  on 

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See: 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/procedure/eurostat_ed
p_visits_member_states. 
See: 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/methodology/advice_
member_states.  

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Government Deficit and Debt, the latest version of which was published in October 
2010.  

2.2.5.  Consistency with underlying government accounts 

The  notification  deadlines  of  1  April  and  1  October  set  by  Regulation  (EC) 
No 479/2009  were  introduced  in  order  to  ensure  consistency  with  the  underlying 
annual and quarterly government sector accounts, as reported to Eurostat in various 
ESA95  transmission  tables.  Eurostat  systematically  analyses  the  consistency  of  the 
EDP  notifications  with  the  underlying  government  sector  accounts.  For  example, 
total  government  expenditure  and  revenue  should  be  consistent  with  the  reported 
deficit figure.  

The overall consistency of EDP data with the reported ESA95 government accounts 
has  become  increasingly  complete  in  recent  years,  though  it  is  still  better  for  non-
financial than for financial data.  

2.3. 

Publication 

2.3.1.  Publication of headline figures and detailed reporting tables 

Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 479/2009 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  22  April  and  22  October 
together  with  all  the  reporting  tables,  as  notified  in  the  Member  States’  latest 
submission  to  Eurostat.  The  October  publication  concerned  only  the  data  of  26 
Member States, excluding data from Greece and the EU-aggregates. The aggregates 
(EU  in  total  and  the  Euro-area)  and  the  data  on  Greece  were  published  on  15 
November 201014 together with the data on the other 26 Member States which were 
unchanged compared to the news release of 22 October 2010.  

Eurostat  also  publishes  on  its  website  the annual  and  quarterly  government  finance 
statistics  that  underpin  the  EDP  data,  together  with  information  on  the  stock-flow 
adjustment15.  Eurostat  also  published  the  information  provided  by  Member  States 
concerning government interventions in the context of the financial turmoil16. 

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 479/2009 Member States shall make public 
their actual data on deficit and debt. Most Member States have reported to Eurostat 
that they publish all their reporting tables.  

2.3.2.  Reservations on the quality of data 

Eurostat expressed a reservation on the quality of the data notified by Greece in the 
April 2010 notification. This reservation was withdrawn in the November 2010 press 
release.  

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Eurostat news releases 55/2010, 157/2010 and 170/2010. 
The  Government  Finance  section  on  Eurostat’s  website  provides  public  access  to  information  on 
statistics for the excessive deficit procedure and the underlying government sector accounts, including 
data,  methodological  decisions  and  manuals,  together  with  findings  of  EDP  dialogue  visits: 
(http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/introduction.  
See: 
(http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/procedure/supplemen
tary_tables_financial_turmoil). 

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2.3.3.  Amendments to the reported data  

Eurostat’s 2009 and 2010 EDP News Releases provided explanations concerning the 
amendments of notification data of the United Kingdom for all notifications in 2009 
and 201017.  

“Eurostat has amended the deficit data notified by the United Kingdom for the years 
2006 to 2009 for consistency of recording of UMTS licences proceeds in 2000. This 
leads  to  an  increase  in  the  government  deficit  in  2007  and  2008  (as  well  as  for 
financial years 2007/2008 and 2008/2009) by 1.044 mn GBP (0.1% of GDP) and in 
2006 and 2009 (financial years 2006/2007 and 2009/2010) by 1.045 mn GBP (0.1% 
of GDP). There is no change in the reported debt figures.” 

2.3.4.  Publication of metadata (inventories18) 

Regulation  (EC)  No  479/2009  specifies  that  the  EDP  inventories  are  among  the 
statistical  information  to  be  provided  by  Member  States  to  allow  Eurostat  to  check 
compliance with ESA95 rules. Furthermore, it stipulates that national publication of 
these inventories is mandatory. Eurostat has published the inventories of all Member 
States.  All  Member  States  reported  that  they  have  published  their  EDP  inventories 
nationally or intend to do so soon. 

3. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Eurostat concludes  that  progress on the  quality of fiscal data continued in 2010. In 
general,  Member  States  have  provided  better  information,  both  in  EDP  notification 
tables and in other relevant statistical returns. Overall consistency of EDP data with 
the  reported  ESA95  government  accounts  is  satisfactory  and  is  still  improving, 
particularly on the financial side, compared with the situation in earlier years. 

No reservations on the quality of the reported data were expressed in 2010 apart from 
the  reservation  on  the  quality  of  the  data  reported  by  Greece  in  the  April  2010 
notification.  This  reservation  was  lifted  in  November  2010.  Closing  a  long-lasting 
and critical process since October 2009, Eurostat concluded on 22 November that the 
latest  revised  data  for  2006-2009  for  Greece  were  sufficiently  reliable  for  EDP 
purpose, in line with the quality of the data of other EU Member states. A specific 
information note on Greek fiscal data is available on Eurostat's web site. 

In spite of the recognised improvements, some  issues nevertheless persist linked to 
the  compliance  with  accounting  rules  and  the  completeness  and  quality  of  some  of 
the statistical information provided. Eurostat has therefore invited Member States to 
continue  investing  in  the  quality  of  government  finance  statistics  with  a  view  to 
achieving  the  desired  level  of  quality  as  regards  the  compliance  with  the  relevant 

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Under Article 15 (2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2009, 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 8 (1). 
Inventories of the methods, procedures and sources used to compile actual deficit and debt data and the 
underlying government accounts. 

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accounting rules, completeness, reliability, timeliness and consistency of government 
data. 

the  European  Statistical  Governance  Advisory  Board, 

Furthermore,  drawing  upon  the  experience  in  the  case  of  Greece  and  upon 
observations  of 
the 
Commission  will  issue  a  Communication  addressing  the  issues  of  systemic  risk  in 
national  statistical  systems  and  of  the  deployment  of  a  risk-based  approach  for 
Excessive  Deficit  Procedure  data,  notably  for  upstream  source  data,  implementing 
Eurostat’s strengthened powers under Regulation (EC) 479/2009, as amended. 

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