REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the quality of fiscal data reported by Member States in 2016
Date: 2017-03-09
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU Member State, EU statistics, budget deficit, economic statistics, public debt, public finance, publication of accounts

EN 

   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 9.3.2017  COM(2017) 123 final   REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the quality of fiscal data reported by Member States in 2016  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

on the quality of fiscal data reported by Member States in 2016 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1.  BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................................ 3 

2.  MAIN FINDINGS ON THE 2016 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  table  for  reporting  government  intervention  to  support  financial 
institutions ....................................................................................................................................... 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 the underlying government accounts .................................................. 8 

2.3. 

Publication .............................................................................................................................. 9 

2.3.1. 

Publication of headline figures and detailed reporting tables ......................................... 9 

2.3.2. 

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

2.3.3. 

Amendments to the reported data ................................................................................. 10 

2.3.4. 

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

3.  CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................................. 10 

2 

 
 
 
 
 
1. 

BACKGROUND 

Article  8(3)  of  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  479/2009  on  the  application  of  the 
Protocol on the excessive deficit procedure (EDP) annexed to the Treaty establishing 
the European Community1 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.  This  annual  report  provides  an  overall  assessment  of  the 
timeliness, reliability, completeness and consistency of the data and its compliance 
with  accounting  rules.  The  Commission  adopted  the  previous  report  (on  the  2015 
data) on 23 March 20162. 

Eurostat regularly assesses the quality of the actual data reported by Member States 
and  of  the  underlying  general  government  sector  accounts.  October 2014  was  the 
first  time  those  accounts  were  compiled  in  accordance  with  Regulation  (EU)  No 
549/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  21  May  2013  on  the 
European  system  of  national  and  regional  accounts  in  the  European  Union  (ESA 
2010)3.  That  assessment  concentrates  on  the  factors  that  explain  the  general 
government deficit/surplus and changes in general government debt. Member States 
send  that  information  to  Eurostat  twice  per  year  as  part  of  the  ‘EDP  notification 
the 
to 
tables’, 
‘Supplementary table on government interventions to support financial institutions’ 
and  also  via  bilateral  clarifications.  Eurostat  also  maintains  contact  with  Member 
States by making regular EDP dialogue visits. 

the  EDP  notification 

‘Questionnaire 

relating 

tables’, 

the 

This  report  is  based  on  the  main  findings  and  results  of  the  EDP  data  reported  by 
Member States in 2016. It focuses on the latest reports submitted in October 2016. 
Where  appropriate,  it  draws  comparisons  with  the  data  sent  in  April 2016  and  in 
2015. 

2. 

MAIN  FINDINGS  ON  THE  2016  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 Eurostat 
twice  per  year,  before  1  April  and  before  1  October4.  The  2016  EDP  reporting 
covered  2012  to  2016.  The  figures  for  2016  are  those  planned  by  the  national 
authorities,  while  the  2012  to  2015  figures  are  actual  data5.  In  accordance  with 
Article  8(1)  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  479/2009,  Eurostat  assesses  the  actual  data 
reported by Member States, but not the planned data. 

Compliance with the reporting deadlines has been very good. In 2016,  all Member 
States reported their actual data by the legal deadline for both EDP notifications. 

1 
2 
3 
4 
5 

OJ L 145, 10.6.2009, p. 1. 
COM(2016) 164 final. 
OJ L 174, 26.6.2013, p. 1. 
Articles 3(1) and (3) of Regulation (EC) No 479/2009. 
Actual data can be final, half-finalised or estimated figures. 

3 

 
 
                                                            
2.1.2.  Reliability 

Revisions  made  between  the  April  2016  and  the  October  2016  EDP  notifications 
were  mainly  due  to  source  data  updates,  primarily  working  balances  and  tax  data, 
and methodological changes, such as reclassifications. 

For  2015,  the  largest  positive  revisions,  showing  a  decrease  in  the  deficit  as  a 
percentage  of  GDP,  were  made  in  Hungary  (+0.4  pp),  Bulgaria,  Denmark, 
Luxembourg and Slovenia (+0.3 pp each) and Slovakia and Sweden (+0.2 pp each). 
The  largest  negative  revisions  were  made  in  Estonia  (-0.3  pp,  reducing  surplus), 
Greece  (-0.3  pp,  increasing  deficit)  and  the  Czech  Republic  (-0.2  pp,  increasing 
deficit). The largest upward revisions of 2015 debt level were made in Finland (+1.1 
pp), Sweden (+0.8 pp) and Luxembourg (+0.3 pp), while in Romania the debt level 
was revised downward (-0.5 pp). 

GDP revisions have a larger denominator effect on government debt ratios than on 
government deficit ratios. The revision of GDP had an impact on the debt ratio for 
several Member States. In particular, increases in debt ratio were observed for Spain 
(+0.5  pp),  France  and  Luxembourg  (+0.4  pp  each)  and  Greece  (+0.3  pp),  and 
decreases  for  Cyprus  (-1.3  pp),  Bulgaria,  the  Czech  Republic  and  Austria  (-0.7  pp 
each),  Hungary  and  Finland  (-0.6  pp  each)  and,  finally,  a  substantial  decrease  for 
Ireland (-15.1 pp6). The revision of GDP had a limited impact on the deficit ratio of 
all Member States, except for Ireland (+0.4 pp) and Bulgaria (+0.1 pp). 

2.1.3.  Completeness of tables and supporting information 

The  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,  provides  that  Member  States  must  transmit  to  Eurostat  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.’ 

There  are  four  main  EDP  notification  tables.  Table  1  covers  the  reporting  of 
government  surplus/deficit  as  total  and  by  government  subsectors,  debt  levels  as 
total7 and by category of financial instruments. It also covers GDP at current market 
price and government expenditure on gross fixed capital formation and on interest. 
Tables  2A  to  2D  provide  the  data  that  explain  the  transition  between  the  national 
definitions  of  government  balance  (called  'working  balance'  in  national  accounts 
methodology)  and  the  surplus/deficit  of  each  government  subsector  (called  'net 
lending/net borrowing' in national accounts methodology)8. Tables 3A to 3D provide 
the  data  that  explain  the  contributions  of  the  government  surplus/deficit  and  other 
relevant factors to the variation in the government debt level and the consolidation 

6               http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/24987/6390465/Irish_GDP_communication.pdf  
7               According to the Protocol on the excessive deficit procedure annexed to the Treaty on the functioning 
of the EU, government debt is the consolidated gross debt of the whole general government sector outstanding 
at  the  end  of  the  year  (at  nominal  value).  According  to  Regulation  No  479/2009,  government  debt  includes 
currency and deposits (AF.2), debt securities (AF.3) and loans (AF.4) as defined in ESA 2010.  
8               Article 3(2) of Regulation (EC) No 479/2009. 

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of debt. Table 4 mainly includes data on trade credits and advances9. EDP tables 1 
and 2 cover 2012-201610, while the other tables cover 2012-2015. 

All Member States provided Eurostat with all the EDP notification tables11 in both 
the  April  and  the  October  EDP  notifications  of  2016.  In  the  October  reporting,  all 
Member  States  completed  fully  the  EDP  table  1  and  provided  details  in  the  EDP 
table 2 on the link between the working balance and the EDP surplus/deficit for all 
subsectors.  In  the  United  Kingdom,  the  working  balance  is  judged  to  be  on  an 
accrual  basis  and  very  few  adjustments  to  transform  it  into  a  surplus/deficit 
according  to  ESA  2010  were  reported.  Some  countries  did  not  report  all  the 
transition items as requested in the template (Germany, Austria) and other countries 
included  some  residual  transition  items  (Italy,  the  Netherlands,  Finland  and 
Sweden). 

Not  all  Member  States  provided  all  the  breakdowns  in  all  the  EDP  tables  3.  In 
particular,  Austria  did  not  provide  the  details  requested  about  shares  and  other 
equity,  Germany  did  not  provide  the  details  of  financial  derivatives.  Neither 
Germany nor Austria filled in the adjustment lines related to the valuation of debt. 

The  general  government  stock  of  trade  credits  and  advances  should  be  reported  in 
the EDP table 4. However, complete coverage of all government subsectors as well 
as  inside  the  subsectors  was  achieved  for  around  half  of  the  Member  States. 
Belgium,  Bulgaria,  Germany,  Ireland,  Greece,  France,  Italy,  Cyprus,  Luxembourg, 
Malta,  the  Netherlands,  Poland  and  the  United  Kingdom  flagged  the  data  they 
provided as provisional, i.e. subject to revisions in future notifications. 

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

All  Member  States  submitted  replies  to  the  ‘Questionnaire  related  to  the  EDP 
notification  tables’12.  Although  the  coverage  and  quality  of  answers  continued  to 
improve  compared  to  previous  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, the recording of government guarantees (mainly for the 
coverage of the local government subsector) and the data on capital injections. 

2.1.4. 

Supplementary  table  for  reporting  government  intervention  to  support  financial 
institutions 

Since  15  July  2009,  Eurostat  has  been  collecting  a  set  of  supplementary  data  on 
government  interventions  to  support  financial  institutions.  The  data  collected  in 
2016 related to the period 2007-2015. All but five Member States (Estonia, Malta, 
Poland,  Romania  and  Slovakia)  reported  various  government  interventions  during 

  See the statements accompanying the Council minutes of 22 November 1993:  

The  EDP  notification  tables  reported  by  Member  States  can  be  found  on  Eurostat’s  website: 

  Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2009 only explicitly requires Member States to provide planned data 

9 
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/gfs/images/e/e7/Statements_9817.en93.pdf 
10 
in EDP tables 1 and 2A. 
11 
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/government-finance-statistics/excessive-deficit-procedure/edp-notification-
tables. 
12 
  That  questionnaire  comprises  13  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, rerouting transactions and other issues. 

5 

 
 
                                                            
that  period.  In  Finland  (2008)  and  the  Czech  Republic  (2013-2015)  the  only 
interventions reported concerned contingent liabilities. In 2015, the impact on deficit 
of support for financial institutions was particularly large in Greece (4.1 % of GDP), 
Portugal  (1.6  %  of  GDP)  and  Slovenia  (1.4  %  of  GDP).  Eurostat  published  a 
background note alongside its EDP news release providing more information on the 
content of the supplementary table and data findings13.  

2.1.5.  Questionnaire on intergovernmental lending 

Member  States  also  provide  data  on  bilateral  intergovernmental  lending,  usually 
under  financial  assistance  programmes.  Those  data  and  further  information  on  the 
European  Financial  Stability  Facility  form  part  of  the  EDP  news  release.  For  the 
years  2012-2015, the intergovernmental lending figures relate mainly  to lending to 
Greece, Ireland and Portugal. 

Bilateral  intergovernmental  lending  is  deducted  when  calculating  the  EU-28  and 
euro area aggregates for the Maastricht government debt, since both are shown on a 
consolidated basis.  

2.2. 

Compliance with accounting rules and consistency of statistical data 

2.2.1.  Exchange of information and clarifications 

During the notification period between the autumn reporting deadline of 1 October 
and the publication of the data on 21 October 2016, Eurostat contacted the national 
statistical  authorities  in  every  Member  State  to  request  further  information  and  to 
clarify the application of the accounting rules to specific transactions. That process 
involved  several  rounds  of  correspondence  between  Eurostat  and  the  national 
statistical  authorities.  A  first  round  of  requests  for  clarification  was  sent  to  all 
Member  States  by  6  October.  A  second  round  of  requests  was  sent  to  25  Member 
States, a third round to 13 Member States and a fourth round to one Member State. 
Eurostat  asked  certain  Member  States  to  provide  revised  'EDP  notification  tables', 
revised tables for underlying government accounts (i.e. the annual expenditure and 
revenue  accounts,  and  quarterly  financial  and  non-financial  accounts)  and  revised 
'Questionnaire relating to the EDP notification tables'. In most cases, the changes in 
the  data  reported  in  the  October  2016  notification  period  were  corrections  of 
technical  errors,  internal  inconsistencies,  adjustments  provided  in  the  notification 
tables or in the related questionnaire or inappropriate recording within tables. A few 
changes related to specific methodological guidance provided by Eurostat, or to an 
update of source data. 

2.2.2.  Dialogue and methodological visits 

Regulation  (EC)  No  479/2009  makes  provision  for  dialogue  and  methodological 
visits.  Representatives  of  DG  ECFIN  and  the  European  Central  Bank  regularly 
attend  those  visits  as  observers.  Dialogue  visits  to  Member  States  take  place 
regularly  (at 
to  review  reported  data,  examine 
methodological  issues,  discuss  statistical  processes  and  sources  described  in  the 
inventories  and  assess  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). 

least  every  second  year) 

13 
interventions-OCT-2016-final.pdf  

  See: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/1015035/2022710/Background-note-on-gov-

6 

 
 
                                                            
The frequency of the regular EDP dialogue visits to the Member States has increased 
in recent years. If Eurostat raises a specific important issue with a Member State and 
it cannot be resolved other than by holding a meeting with the authorities concerned, 
an ad-hoc or technical visit to the Member State can be organised.  

In  2016,  Eurostat  made  EDP  dialogue  visits  to  Belgium  (21-22  January),  Hungary 
(15-16  February),  Greece  (17-19  February  and  22-24  March),  Germany  (25-26 
February), Bulgaria (29 February-1 March), Luxembourg (15-16 March), Lithuania 
(19-20  May),  Malta  (8-10  June),  Denmark  (19-20  September),  Portugal  (9-11 
November)  and  the  Czech  Republic  (22-23  November).  There  were  also  three  ad 
hoc  visits  to  Greece  (27-28  June),  Hungary  (22  September)  and  Poland  (17-18 
November). Eurostat also made a technical visit (25-27 January) and a specific visit 
(26-28  September)  to  Austria  in  the  context  of  the  ongoing  investigation  into  the 
possible misreporting of data14.  

The final findings of each dialogue visit, including the action points agreed and the 
status  of  the  issues  raised,  are  sent  to  the  Economic  and  Financial  Committee  and 
published  on  Eurostat’s  website15.  The  implementation  of  such  action  points  has 
considerably improved data quality over time. 

Eurostat made no methodological visits in 2016. 

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 published guidelines16. Since July, in the interests of transparency, 
Eurostat  publishes  all  its  letters  of  advice17  without  seeking  the  consent  of  the 
concerned  Member  State  first,  as  it  was  the  practice  until  then.  In  total,  19  letters 
were published in 2016. 

2.2.4.  Recent methodological issues 

The  2016  edition  of  the  Manual  on  Government  Deficit  and  Debt  (MGDD)  was 
published on 4 March and it includes chapters that have been brought into line with 
ESA  2010,  reflecting  the  results  of  the  work  of  the  task  force  on  methodological 
issues in 2015. 

Eurostat  assessed  the  proper  application  of  the  ESA  2010  rules  and  checked  the 
application  of  its  methodological  decisions  by  analysing  the  data  reported  by 
Member States in the 'Questionnaire relating to the EDP notification tables', as well 
as through discussions with the national statistical authorities during EDP dialogue 
visits. 

Eurostat  provides  additional  methodological  guidance  documentation  on  the 
accounting  rules  for  the  EDP  statistics  and  the  GFS,  complementing  the  general 
rules of ESA 2010. Guidance notes are released under the responsibility of Eurostat, 

14              Commission Decision C (2016) 2633 final of 03.05.2016, on the launch of an investigation related to 
the  manipulation  of  statistics  in  Austria  as  referred  to  in  Regulation  (EU)  No  1173/2011  of  the  European 
Parliament and of the Council on the effective enforcement of budgetary surveillance in the euro area. 
15              See: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/government-finance-statistics/excessive-deficit-
procedure/eurostat-edp-visits-to-member-states   
16              See: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/government-finance-statistics/methodology/guidance-on-
accounting-rules 
17              See: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/government-finance-statistics/methodology/advice-to-member-
states 

7 

 
 
                                                            
after consultation with the statistical authorities of the Member States. Clarifications 
are released under the responsibility of Eurostat and explain the accounting rules for 
some very specific issues. 

In 2016, Eurostat published three clarification notes: 'The statistical treatment of PPP 
contracts'  (4  March),  'Statistical  implications  of  new  resolution  legislation'  (31 
March)  and  'Statistical  recording  of  the  2015  contributions  to  National  Resolution 
Funds' (26 September). 

The  statistical  recording  of  PPPs  was  also  extensively  discussed,  especially  in  the 
context  of  the  Juncker  Investment  Plan  for  Europe.  From  Eurostat's  side,  major 
efforts have been made in order to clarify the rules on PPPs to compilers. In addition 
to the note issued in March and the updated chapter on PPPs in the MGDD, together 
with the European Investment Bank, Eurostat issued a comprehensive PPP guide ('A 
Guide to the Statistical Treatment of PPPs'18) on 29 September. 

Two  task  forces  were  set  up  in  2016,  one  on  revision  policy  (3  March  and  24-25 
May)  and  another  one  on  the  MGDD  (13-14  September).  The  latter  focussed  on 
methodological  issues  needing  further  clarification  and/or  for  which  guidance  or 
updated  MGDD  chapters  could  be  envisaged  in  the  future.  Three  dedicated  expert 
meetings  were  also  organised,  on  resolution  contributions  and  deposit  guarantee 
scheme (4 July), financial defeasance structures (14 November) and toxic debts (15 
November). 

2.2.5.  Consistency with the underlying government accounts 

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

EDP  data  were  generally  consistent  with  the  reported  ESA  2010  government 
accounts,  although  there  are  some  concerns  both  over  balance  sheets  for  financial 
assets and liabilities (stocks) and quarterly financial accounts of general government 
(ESA table 27). There are noticeable inconsistencies for Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, 
Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, and smaller differences for 
France and Hungary. 

With regard to net financial transactions, significant differences remained for Greece 
for  a  number  of  years  in  the  October  2016  reporting,  the  same  situation  as  in  the 
previous notifications. In that context, Eurostat has therefore again withdrawn ESA 
table 27 from publication and amended the figures for Greece used for the euro area 
and  EU-28  aggregates.  It  is  working  with  the  Bank  of  Greece  and  the  ECB  to 
address the problem. 

The  EDP  data  on  surplus/deficit,  gross  fixed  capital  formation  and  interest 
expenditure,  reported  by  the  Member  States  were  fully  consistent  with  annual  and 
quarterly data on government expenditure and revenue (ESA tables 2 and 25). The 

18              http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/1015035/7204121/epec-eurostat-statistical-guide-en.pdf   

8 

 
 
                                                            
data on annual debt and the quarterly government debt (ESA table 28) also matched 
perfectly for all Member States. 

2.3. 

Publication 

2.3.1.  Publication of headline figures and detailed reporting tables 

Article  14(1)  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 […]. That provision of data shall be effected through publication.' 
Eurostat published the government deficit and debt data on its website on 21 April19 
and on 21 October20, together with all the reporting tables21 notified by the Member 
States  and  also  with  a  note  on  the  stock-flow  adjustment,  a  note  on  government 
interventions to support financial institutions and a note on the stock of liabilities of 
trade credits and advances. It also published a news release on quarterly Maastricht 
debt, at approximately t+11522 days, as well as a news release on quarterly general 
government deficit. 

Under Regulation (EC) No 479/2009, Member States must make public their actual 
data  on  deficit  and  debt.  All  Member  States  publish  deficit  and  debt  figures  at 
national  level.  Most  Member  States  have  informed  Eurostat  that  they  publish  all 
their  EDP  tables.  Five  Member  States,  Bulgaria,  Italy,  Luxembourg,  Poland  and 
Slovakia,  publish  only  some  of  the  reporting  tables.  One  Member  State,  France, 
publishes none of the EDP tables at national level. 

2.3.2.  Reservations on the quality of data 

October 2016 

Cyprus:  Eurostat  expressed  a  reservation  on  the  quality  of  the  data  reported  by 
Cyprus in relation to a series of technical issues, such as the recording of EU flows, 
the  basis  for  the  working  balance  of  central  government,  the  incomplete  use  of 
source  data  for  accrual  reporting  and  the  absence  of  reporting  of  statistical 
discrepancy in EDP tables. 

Eurostat  withdrew  its  reservation  on  France  and  maintained  its  reservations 
expressed  in  the  April  2016  EDP  news  release  on  Belgium  and  Hungary  (the 
reservation  on  Hungary  was  amended  in  October  2016  to  include  the  possible 
rerouting of operations carried by the Hungarian Central Bank).   

April 2016 

Belgium:  Eurostat  expressed  a  reservation  on  the  quality  of  the  data  reported  by 
Belgium in relation to the sector classification of hospitals. 

France:  Eurostat  expressed  a  reservation  on  the  quality  of  the  data  reported  by 
France  in  relation  to  the  sector  classification  of  the  French  Deposit  Guarantee  and 

  See: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/7235991/2-21042016-AP-EN.pdf   
  See: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/7704449/2-21102016-AP-EN.pdf  
  See: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/government-finance-statistics/excessive-deficit-procedure/edp-

19 
20 
21  
notification-tables 
22               ‘t’ is the last reported quarter 

9 

 
 
                                                            
Resolution  Funds  in  2015  and  the  recording  of  settlement  costs  related  to  the 
restructuring of complex debt instruments taken on by local government. 

Hungary:  Eurostat  expressed  a  reservation  on  the  quality  of  the  data  reported  by 
Hungary in relation to the sector classification of Eximbank. 

Eurostat  withdrew  its  reservation  on  Austria  expressed  in  its  news  release  of  21 
October 2015. 

2.3.3.  Amendments to the reported data 

Eurostat  has  not  amended  the  data  reported  by  Member  States  in  the  April  or 
October 2016 EDP notifications. 
2.3.4.  Publication of metadata (inventories23) 

Regulation  (EC)  No  479/2009  specifies  that  the  EDP  inventories  are  part  of  the 
statistical information Member States must provide. It also requires EDP inventories 
to be published nationally. 

Eurostat has changed the format of EDP inventories, making structural changes and 
requiring  more  detailed  information.  The  new  inventory  template  adapted  to  ESA 
2010  has  been  agreed  on  and,  by  the  end  of  2016,  Eurostat  had  published  revised 
inventories for more than two thirds of the Member States.  

3. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Eurostat  acknowledges  continued  overall  improvements  in  the  consistency  and 
completeness of the reported data. Nevertheless, the quality of fiscal data needs to be 
further  improved.  During  2016,  Eurostat  has  intensified  the  bilateral  clarifications 
during  the  assessment  of  the  EDP  notifications.  It  also  increased  contacts  and 
consultations with Member States between notifications. The frequency of dialogue 
visits  has  increased.  The  publication  of  all  Eurostat's  methodological  letters  of 
advice has improved knowledge sharing and transparency.  

Some  consistency  problems  with  quarterly  financial  accounts  persist  for  some 
Member States, in particular Greece. 

In 2016, Eurostat expressed four reservations on the quality of the data reported by 
Member  States.  They  concerned  Belgium,  France  and  Hungary  for  the  April  EDP 
notification  and  Cyprus  for  the  October  EDP  notification.  It  withdrew  its 
reservations  on  Austria  (April  2016)  and  France  (October  2016)  and  maintained 
them on Belgium and Hungary (October 2016). 

The revisions of past data on deficit and debt were mainly attributed to source data 
updates, reclassification of units and methodological requests for advice. 

Overall, Eurostat concludes that the quality of the reporting of fiscal data continued 
to  improve  in  2016.  In  general,  Member  States  provided  higher  quality  and  more 
complete information, both in EDP notification tables and in other relevant statistical 
returns. 

23 
the underlying government accounts. 

  Inventories of the methods, procedures and sources used to compile actual deficit and debt data and 

10