REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the quality of fiscal data reported by Member States in 2012
Date: 2013-02-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, Eurostat, budget deficit, disclosure of information, economic statistics, public debt, public finance, publication of accounts

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 20.2.2013  
COM(2013) 88 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

on the quality of fiscal data reported by Member States in 2012 

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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 2012 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

2. 

BACKGROUND.......................................................................................................... 3 

MAIN FINDINGS ON THE 2012 REPORTING OF GOVERNMENT DEFICIT 
AND DEBT LEVELS .................................................................................................. 3 

2.1. 

Timeliness, reliability and completeness ..................................................................... 3 

2.1.1.  Timeliness .................................................................................................................... 3 

2.1.2.  Reliability ..................................................................................................................... 4 

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

2.1.4.  Supplementary tables relating to the financial crisis.................................................... 5 

2.1.5.  Questionnaire on intergovernmental lending ............................................................... 6 

2.2. 

Compliance with accounting rules and consistency of statistical data......................... 6 

2.2.1.  Exchange of information and clarifications ................................................................. 6 

2.2.2.  Dialogue and methodological visits ............................................................................. 6 

2.2.3.  Specific advice by Eurostat .......................................................................................... 7 

2.2.4.  Recent methodological issues ...................................................................................... 7 

2.2.5.  Consistency with underlying government accounts..................................................... 8 

2.3. 

Publication.................................................................................................................... 8 

2.3.1.  Publication of headline figures and detailed reporting tables ...................................... 8 

2.3.2.  Reservations on the quality of data .............................................................................. 9 

2.3.3.  Amendments to the reported data................................................................................. 9 

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

3. 

CONCLUSIONS........................................................................................................ 10 

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1. 

BACKGROUND 

Article 8(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2009 (amended by Regulation (EC) 
No 679/2010), on the application of the Protocol on the excessive deficit procedure 
(EDP)  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. This annual report provides an overall assessment of timeliness, 
reliability,  completeness,  compliance  with  accounting  rules  and  consistency  of  the 
data. The previous report (on the 2011 notifications) was adopted by the Commission 
on 13 April 2012. 

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.  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  per  year.  This  also  includes  supplementary  information  such  as  the 
“Questionnaire related to the EDP notification tables”, the "Supplementary table for 
the  financial  crisis"  and  bilateral  clarifications  by  Member  States.  Eurostat  also 
maintains  an  on-going  dialogue  with  Member  States  by  undertaking  regular  EDP 
dialogue visits. 

This report is based on the main findings and results of the EDP reporting in 2012, 
focusing on the latest exercise of October 2012. Where appropriate, comparisons are 
made with the April 2012 reporting, as well as with the 2011 reportings. 

2. 

MAIN  FINDINGS  ON  THE  2012  REPORTING  OF  GOVERNMENT  DEFICIT  AND  DEBT 
LEVELS 

2.1. 

Timeliness, reliability and completeness 

2.1.1.  Timeliness 

Member  States  are  required  to  report  their  actual  and  planned  EDP  data  to  the 
Commission  twice  per  year,  before  1  April  and  1  October3.  During  2012,  the  EDP 
reporting covered the years 2008 to 2012. The figures for 2012 are those planned by 
the  national  authorities,  while  the  2008  to  2011  figures  are  actual  data  (this  means 
final,  semi-finalised,  provisional  or  estimated  figures).  Eurostat  does  not  check  the 
planned data reported by Member States. This is the responsibility of DG ECFIN. 

Compliance with the reporting deadlines  is usually very good.  In 2012 all  Member 
States reported their actual data before the legal deadline in both EDP notifications. 
As  concerns  planned  data,  in  the  April  2012  reporting  exercise,  all  Member  States 
reported  their  figures  before  1  April  2011,  except  France,  which  sent  the  planned 
data for the year 2012 on 6 April. 

1 
2 
3 

OJ L 145, 10.6.2009, p. 1. 
OJ L 310, 30.11.1996, p. 1. 
Article 3 (1) and (3) of Regulation (EC) No 479/2009, as amended. 

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2.1.2.  Reliability 

Revisions  between  the  April  2012  and  the  October  2012  notifications  were  mainly 
due  to  source  data  updates,  sector  re-classification  of  units,  the  recording  of 
interventions  undertaken  by  government  in  the  context  of  the  financial  crisis  and 
methodological changes. As usual, debt was revised less than deficit between April 
and October. 

The  largest  revisions  in  the  deficit  took  place  in  Spain  and  Ireland.  In  Spain,  the 
deficit was revised upwards between the April and October 2012 EDP notifications 
for  years  2010  and  2011  due  to  the  previously  unrecorded  unpaid  bills  related  to 
health  expenditure  in  the  state  and  local government  sub-sectors and  due  to  the  re-
classification of capital injections by central government into three banks. In Ireland, 
the  biggest  revision  took  place  for  the  year  2011,  where  the  deficit  was  revised 
upwards due to a revised capital transfer element of injections into two banks.  

As for the debt, the largest revisions between April and October were undertaken in 
the  United  Kingdom  and  Italy.  In  the  United  Kingdom,  the  reported  debt  for  the 
years 2008 and 2009 decreased considerably due to a change in the calculation of the 
relevant impact of public defeasance structures, whereas in Italy the debt was revised 
upwards for the whole period 2008-2011 due to the implementation of the Eurostat 
decision on the recording of trade credits. 

Between April and October, there were noticeable revisions in GDP for Greece for 
the years 2010 and 2011 and for Luxembourg for the years 2008 and 2009. 

As regards revisions undertaken within the notification period, most Member States 
revised  their  reporting  after  the  first  submission  in  October  2012.  35  revised 
submissions were sent by 23 countries, while in April 2012, 38 revised submissions 
were  sent  by  22  countries.  Member  States  sent  most  of  the  revised  submissions  in 
response  to  comments,  technical  questions  or  remarks  by  Eurostat,  and  they 
concerned  completeness  of  missing  data,  corrections  of  technical  errors,  internal 
inconsistencies,  adjustments  provided  in  the  notification  tables  or  the  related 
questionnaire or inappropriate recording within tables.  

In the April and October reporting, revised submissions within the notification period 
did  not  change  substantially  the  deficit  and  debt  levels  originally  reported  by 
Member States, except in the October reporting, where the deficit figure was revised 
by -0.2 percentage points (pp) of GDP during the notification period for Ireland.  

2.1.3.  Completeness of tables and supporting information 

Completion of the reporting tables is a legal obligation and is essential for a proper 
assessment  by  Eurostat  of  the  quality  of  the  data.  Article  8(2)  of  Regulation  (EC) 
No 479/2009 as amended, specifies that Member States must provide Eurostat with 
the relevant statistical information, which“(…) in particular (…) means:  

(a) 

(b) 

data from national accounts; 

inventories; 

(c)  EDP notification tables; 

(d) 

additional questionnaires and clarification related to the notifications.” 

There are four main EDP notification tables. The completion of EDP tables 1 to 3 is 
a  legal  obligation,  whereas  the  reporting  of  EDP  Table  4  was  agreed  by  Member 

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States4. Tables 1 and 2A (central government) cover the years 2008 to 2012, whilst 
the other tables cover the years 2008 to 20115. 
Most Member States completed all EDP notification tables6. However in the October 
2012  reporting,  for  EDP  Tables  2,  three  Member  States  either  did  not  provide  full 
details on the link between the working balance and the EDP surplus/deficit for all 
the  sub-sectors  (mainly  for  local  government)  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  not  always  reported.  In 
addition,  several  countries  have  a  practice  of  reporting  zero  statistical  discrepancy, 
which would normally imply that the discrepancy is incorrectly included under 'other 
accounts receivable /payable'. 

Despite  improvements  achieved  in  some  Member  States,  the  overall  coverage  of 
Table  4  remains  inadequate  in  many  cases.  In  particular,  several  countries  are  not 
providing complete data for the stock of liabilities of trade credits and advances. 

All Member States submitted replies to the “Questionnaire relating to the notification 
tables”7.  Although  the  coverage  and  quality  of  answers  continued  to  improve 
compared to past years, progress is still necessary, as some countries did not report 
all the details requested in the questionnaire. This applies notably to data on central 
government  claims  and  debt  cancellations,  the  breakdown  of  other  accounts 
receivable/payable and the recording of government guarantees (mainly the coverage 
of the local government subsector). 

The  completeness  of  EDP  tables  can  still  be  improved.  However,  the  remaining 
issues are expected to have little impact on data quality. 

2.1.4. 

Supplementary tables relating to the financial crisis 

Eurostat has been collecting a set of data on the financial crisis in a supplementary 
table  since  15  July  2009.  Part 1  of  the  supplementary  table  relates  to  data  on 
transactions  which  are  recorded  in  the  revenue/expenditure  account  of  government 
and  have  an  actual  impact  on  the  EDP  deficit/surplus.  Part 2  of  the  supplementary 
table  relates  to  data  on  stocks  of  financial  assets  and  liabilities  arising  from  the 
support  for  financial  institutions.  It  distinguishes  between  activities  which  have 
actually  contributed  to  government  liabilities  (included  in  government  debt)  and 
activities which may potentially contribute to government liabilities in the future, but 
are for now considered as contingent on future events  (not included  in government 
debt). 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. 

4 
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7 

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. 
The EDP notification tables reported by Member States can be found on Eurostat’s website. See: 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/excessive_deficit/edp_
notification_tables 
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. 

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The  data  collected  in  2012  referred  to  the  period  2007  to  2011.  All  but  seven 
Member States (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Malta, Poland, Romania and 
Slovakia) reported various interventions undertaken by government in the context of 
the financial crisis during the 2007-2011 period. Eurostat published a note alongside 
its EDP Press Releases analysing these data8.  

2.1.5.  Questionnaire on intergovernmental lending 

Starting  from  the  April  2011  notification,  the  Member  States  also  provide  data  on 
intergovernmental  lending  in  the  context  of  financial  rescue  operations.  The  EDP 
News Release includes this information, which allows the analysis of loans Member 
States  grant  for  support  operations  to  other  Member  States  (in  2011,  mainly  to 
Greece, Ireland and Portugal).  

Such intergovernmental lending increased substantially in the context of the financial 
crisis  and  has  to  be  subtracted  from  the  EU27  and  euro  area  aggregates  of  the 
Maastricht  debt,  both  of  which  are  calculated  on  a  consolidated  basis.  Due  to  this 
consolidation,  the  EU27  and  euro  area  aggregates  are  not  equal  to  the  arithmetical 
sum  of  Member  States’  debt  (i.e.  the  above  mentioned  intergovernmental  lending 
between governments is not included, to avoid double-counting). 

The  figures  reported  in  the  questionnaire  for  the  year  2011  include  the  amounts  in 
relation to the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). 

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  1  October  and  the 
publication of the data on 22 October 2012, Eurostat contacted the national statistical 
authorities  in  every  Member  State  to  request  further  information  and  to  clarify  the 
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 to all countries before 5 October. A 
second  round  of  requests  was  sent  to  23  countries  and  a  third  round  to  three 
countries. For some countries, Eurostat asked for revised notification tables9.  

2.2.2.  Dialogue and methodological visits 

Regulation  (EC)  No  479/2009  as  amended,  makes  provision  for  dialogue  and 
methodological  visits.  Dialogue  visits,  including  the  new  so-called  'upstream 
dialogue visits', to Member States are conducted regularly with the aim of reviewing 
reported  data,  examining  methodological  issues,  discussing  statistical  sources  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.  

During the year 2012, Eurostat carried out the following EDP dialogue visits: Austria 
(17-19  January,  upstream  dialogue  visit),  Lithuania  (8-9  February),  Latvia  (15-16 
February),  Bulgaria  (27-29  February),  Belgium  (5-7  March  and  4  September, 
upstream dialogue visits, and 27 June standard dialogue visit), Greece (22-23 March 
and 24-25  September), Slovakia  (3-4 May), Czech Republic (22-24 May, upstream 

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9 

See: 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/documents/Backgroun
d_note_fin_crisis_Oct_2012_final.pdf  
See section 2.1. 

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dialogue  visit),  Malta  (22-23  May),  Spain  (18-22  June  and  11-14  September,  both 
upstream dialogue visits) Austria (25-26 June), Hungary (10-11 July), Ireland (30-31 
August), France (10-11 September), Cyprus (26 September), Czech Republic (13-14 
November),  Italy  (19-21  November,  upstream  dialogue  visit),  Portugal  (22-23 
November)  and  Denmark  (29-30  November).  Furthermore,  a  technical  visit  was 
undertaken to Spain on the 24 May 2012 and two visits (technical and pre-accession) 
took place to Croatia as future Member State. 

Recurring issues discussed during the visits included the classification of units within 
or outside the general government sector (e.g. concerning public transport, television 
and radio, hospitals and universities), capital injections, Public-Private Partnerships, 
EU flows, the recording of guarantees, and overall quality management of upstream 
data  flows.  Due  attention  is  being  given  to  Member  States  with  decentralised 
structures,  such  as  autonomous  regions.  Every  visit  leads  to  a  number  of  action 
points  for  the  Member  State.  The  implementation  of  these  action  points  leads  to 
improvements  in  data  quality  over  time.  The  final  findings  of  each  dialogue  visit, 
including a description of the action points agreed, and its state of play, are sent to 
the Economic and Financial Committee and published on the website of Eurostat. 

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.  No  such  methodological  visits  were 
carried out during 2012. 

2.2.3. 

Specific advice by Eurostat 

Member  States  regularly  consult  Eurostat  to  clarify  various  national  accounting 
issues in relation to future or past operations. Eurostat provides advice in accordance 
with  the  existing  guidelines.  To  comply  with  the  transparency  provision  in 
Regulation  (EC)  No  479/2009,  as  amended,  Eurostat  publishes  its  advice10,  unless 
the  Member  State  concerned  raises  an  objection.  Eurostat  published  the  following 
advice  in  2012:  the  accounting  treatment  of  capital  injections  into  Irish  banks,  the 
treatment  of  a  capital  injection  ('Gesellschafterzuschuss')  and  a  state  guarantee 
granted to KA Finanz AG in Austria, the statistical recording of the early repayments 
of  mortgage  loans  at  preferential  exchange  rates  and  the  related  tax  rebate  in 
Hungary,  the  recording  of  payment  obligations  established  by  Court  decision  with 
retroactive effect in Romania, the methodological treatment of government injections 
in  the  revaluation  reserves  of  the  Magyar  Nemzeti  Bank  in  Hungary,  and  the 
recording  of  payments  related  to  the  reimbursement  of  social  contributions 
incorrectly calculated in 2011-2012 in Romania. 

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 
Government  Deficit  and  Debt,  the  latest  version  of  which  was  published  in  March 
201211, and which is now subject to an annual update process.  

10 

11 

See: 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/methodology/advice_
member_states 
See: 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/product_details/publication?p_product_code=KS-
RA-12-003 

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In  July  2012,  Eurostat  published  its  decision  on  "The  statistical  recording  of  some 
operations related to trade credits incurred by government units"12.  

In  April  2012  Eurostat  published  a  guidance  note  on  "The  impact  on  EU 
Governments'  deficit  and  debt  of  the  decisions  taken  in  the  2011-2012  European 
summits"13.  In  July  2012,  the  note  on  "The  impact  of  bank  recapitalisation  on 
government  finance"14,  completed  the  previous  one,  providing  guidance  on  capital 
injections in banks and the classification of publicly supported "bad banks". 

2.2.5.  Consistency with underlying government accounts 

The  notification  deadlines  of  1  April  and  1  October  set  by  Regulation  (EC) 
No 479/2009  as  amended,  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  improved  in  recent  years,  though  it  is  still  better  for  non-financial  than  for 
financial data. In the October 2012 reporting, consistency between EDP figures and 
ESA  tables  (at  both  annual  and  quarterly  level)  was  complete  for  the  non-financial 
data.  However,  efforts  by  Member  States  are  still  needed  in  order  to  ensure  the 
consistency  between  EDP  and  ESA  tables  as  regards  financial  data.  Noticeable 
inconsistencies between the EDP data and the quarterly financial accounts appeared 
in  the  October  2012  reporting  for  six  Member  States,  and  inconsistencies  between 
EDP data and ESA annual financial accounts in the stock of liabilities of trade credits 
and advances existed for one third of the Member States. The level of consistency of 
EDP debt and ESA quarterly government debt was complete for all Member States. 

2.3. 

Publication 

2.3.1.  Publication of headline figures and detailed reporting tables 

Article  14  of  Regulation  (EC)  No 479/2009  as  amended,  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 23 April15 and 22 October16 
2012 together with all the reporting tables, as notified by the Member States. Since 
January  2012,  Eurostat  publishes  a  press  release  on  quarterly  Maastricht  debt,  at 
approximately T+115 days. 

12 

13 

14 

15 
16 

See: 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/documents/Statist.reco
rd.of_some_operations_rel.to_trade_credits_i.pdf 
See: 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/documents/Note_on_s
tatistical_implications_of_summits-updated-12_A.pdf 
See: 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/documents/The_impac
t_of_bank_recapitalisations_on_government_fina1.pdf 
See:http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/2-23042012-AP/EN/2-23042012-AP-EN.PDF 
See:http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/2-22102012-AP/EN/2-22102012-AP-EN.PDF 

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Eurostat  also  publishes  on  its  website  the annual  and  quarterly  government  finance 
statistics  that  underpin  the  EDP  data,  together  with  a  note  on  the  stock-flow 
adjustment17. Furthermore, Eurostat publishes the information provided by Member 
States  concerning  government  interventions  in  the  context  of  the  financial  crisis18 
and the data on intergovernmental lending. In October 2012, Eurostat has published 
for the first time a note on the stock of liabilities of trade credits and advances19. 

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 479/2009 as amended, Member States shall 
make public their actual data on deficit and debt. All Member States publish deficit 
and debt figures at  national  level.  Most Member  States have  reported  to Eurostat a 
practice  of  publishing  all  their  reporting  tables.  Five  Member  States  publish  only 
some  of  the  reporting  tables  and  one  Member  State,  France,  does  not  publish  EDP 
tables at national level. 

2.3.2.  Reservations on the quality of data 

Eurostat expressed two reservations on the quality of the data notified by Ireland in 
the April 2012  notification. Both reservations were withdrawn in the  October 2012 
assessment period. 

Ireland: Eurostat has withdrawn a specific reservation, expressed in April 2012, on 
the data reported by Ireland, relating to the fact that restructuring plans of Allied Irish 
Banks  and  Irish  Life  &  Permanent  (in  2012  renamed  as  Permanent  TSB)  were  not 
yet  finalised.  The  Central  Statistics  Office  of  Ireland  and  Eurostat  have  examined 
updated restructuring plans sent to the EU Competition authorities. These plans form 
a  suitable  basis  for  partitioning  the  July  2011  injections  in  Allied  Irish  Banks  and 
Permanent TSB into deficit-increasing and non-deficit increasing components. This 
has been implemented in revised data reported by Ireland.  

Eurostat has also withdrawn a specific reservation, expressed in April 2012, on the 
data  reported  by  Ireland,  relating  to  the  statistical  classification  of  National  Asset 
Management  Agency  Investment  Limited  (NAMA-IL).  On  the  basis  of  documents 
provided by the Central Statistics Office of Ireland, NAMA-IL is majority privately-
owned, following the sale by Irish Life of its stake in NAMA-IL to a private investor. 
This is a necessary condition for a special purpose entity to be classified outside the 
General  Government  sector,  pursuant  to  Eurostat’s  decision  of  15  July  2009  on 
public interventions during the financial crisis. 

2.3.3.  Amendments to the reported data  

Eurostat amended the data reported by the United Kingdom in the April 2012 EDP 
Notification.  This  amendment  was  withdrawn  in  the  October  2012  assessment 
period. 

United Kingdom: The UK Office for National Statistics has reclassified Bradford & 
Bingley and Northern Rock Asset Management to the General Government sector, in 
line with the financial defeasance chapter of the Manual on Government Deficit and 

17 

18 

19 

See: 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/STOCK_FLOW_2012_OCT/EN/STOCK_FLOW
_2012_OCT-EN.PDF.  
See: 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/excessive_deficit/supp
lementary_tables_financial_turmoil 
See: 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/documents/Note_on_
AF.71L-Oct_2012.pdf 

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Debt.  Consequently,  Eurostat  is  no  longer  amending  the  deficit  and  debt  data 
reported  by  the  United  Kingdom  with  respect  to  public  financial  defeasance 
structures. 

2.3.4.  Publication of metadata (inventories20) 

Regulation  (EC)  No  479/2009  as  amended,  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.  Except  for  Luxembourg  and  the  Netherlands,  all  Member 
States reported that they have published their EDP inventories nationally. 

In 2012 Eurostat has introduced a new EDP inventory format which would involve 
structural changes and require more detailed information (for example, with respect 
to  compilation  procedures,  delimitation  of  the  general  government  sector,  specific 
transactions,  quality  management,  and  upstream  data  sources  etc.).  The  new  EDP 
inventories will be published by Eurostat by the end of 2013. 

3. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Eurostat  has  been  introducing  amendments  and/or  reservations  on  the  quality  of 
reported data since the year 2006. For the first time, in October 2012, Eurostat has 
neither  expressed  reservations  nor  amended  the  data  in  the  EDP  notification.  In 
addition, the two reservations expressed for Ireland, and the amendment to the data 
for the United Kingdom in April 2012, were all withdrawn in the October 2012 EDP 
notification.  

Eurostat acknowledges overall improvements in the consistency and completeness of 
the reported data. Nevertheless, some issues persist, and Member States should step 
up efforts in order to improve the coverage and quality of the trade credits reported 
and  the  completeness  of  data  on  the  sub-national  government  levels.  Moreover 
Eurostat  is  closely  monitoring  the  system  for  the  reporting  by  autonomous  regions 
and  the  recording  of  interventions  undertaken  by  government  in  the  context  of  the 
financial crisis (bank recapitalisations).  

Overall, Eurostat concludes that the progress on the quality of the reporting of fiscal 
data continued in 2012. In general, Member States have provided better information, 
both in EDP notification tables and in other relevant statistical returns.  

20 

Inventories of the methods, procedures and sources used to compile actual deficit and debt data and the 
underlying government accounts. 

EN 

10 

   EN