COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics on population and housing, amending Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013
Date: 2025-10-01
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU statistics, census, data collection, exchange of information, family, household, population census, population statistics, statistical method

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 1.10.2025  COM(2025) 592 final 2023/0008 (COD)  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union  concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics on population and housing, amending Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013 (Text with EEA relevance)  
 
2023/0008 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and 
of the Council on European statistics on population and housing, amending Regulation 
(EC) No 862/2007 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council 
(document COM(2023) 31 final – 2023/0008 COD): 

20 January 2023 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

27 April 2023 

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 

24 April 2024 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

N/A 

Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 

29 September 2025 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

The proposal aims to further harmonise and improve the comparability of European statistics 
on  population  and  housing.  The  available  statistics  are  to  be  enriched  and  their  timeliness 
improved. The framework for adapting  statistics  to  changing  policy needs and digitalisation 
opportunities is to be made more flexible. 

These objectives will be delivered by the following key aspects of the Commission proposal:  

i)  a  single  population  number  is  to  be  established  for  all  purposes  of  the  regulation  on 
European  statistics  on  population  and  housing,  in  line  with  international  concepts.  Using 
appropriate  data  sources  available  at  national  level,  including  administrative  sources, 
combined  with  scientifically  sound  estimation  methods  will  ensure  efficient  statistical 
production systems;  

ii) statistical domains, topics and detailed topics are set out in the annex to the proposal. The 
Commission is empowered to adopt technical specifications for the detailed data requirements 
and  update  the  detailed  topics  in  response  to  policy  needs  by  means  of  implementing  and 
delegated acts;  

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iii)  dedicated  enabling  provisions  will  help  statistical  authorities  to  make  better  use  of 
appropriate data sources, including administrative registers, and share data among each other 
effectively and securely for statistical purposes. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

The  position  of  the Council  as  adopted  at  first  reading  fully  reflects  the  political  agreement 
reached between the European Parliament and the Council on 12 May 2025. The Commission 
accepts the overall agreement. The main points of this agreement are the following: 

The agreement includes a single harmonised and inclusive definition of population that counts 
everyone.  The  implementation  and  quality  reporting  burden  on  the  Member  States  for  the 
population  base  is  limited  since  obligatory  estimation  methods  must  be  applied  only  at 
national  level  and  for  selected  detailed  topics  (personal  and  socio-economic  characteristics, 
household situation). 

The agreement further includes improvements in timeliness and frequency for most detailed 
topics and periodicities compared to the status quo. A transitional regime will allow Member 
States to adapt their production systems to the shorter transmission deadlines until 2035. The 
annex  includes  a  new  detailed  topic  on  energy-related  building  characteristics  (where  the 
additional burden on Member States is minimised by permitting them to use only information 
available in  national  databases in  accordance with Article 22 of Directive (EU) 2024/1275). 
Disability has been added as a topic for pilot and feasibility studies. 

The  new  framework  includes  delegated  and  implementing  powers,  balanced  by  non-
quantitative  safeguards,  to  adjust  data  requirements  to  future  needs.  Here,  the  agreement 
largely  follows  the  recently  adopted  Regulation  (EU)  2025/941  on  European  Union  labour 
market  statistics  on businesses.  It  replaces  the Commission  proposal’s provisions on ad hoc 
data  requirements  with  new  rules  on  temporary  data  production.  A  dedicated  safeguard 
ensures  that  there  will  be  no  duplication  of  data  requirements  under  Regulation  (EU) 
2019/1700 establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and 
households, based on data collected from samples, and under this regulation. 

The duration of possible derogations from the regulation and its implementing and delegated 
acts  will  be  up  to  three  years.  In  justified  cases,  the  Commission  may  grant  a  further 
derogation of up to three more years. 

Neither  the  amendments  of  the  Parliament  nor  those  of  the  Council  introduce  a  potential 
additional  burden  on  administrations  or  respondents  compared  to  the  Commission  proposal. 
The  agreed  safeguards  explicitly  aim  to  avoid  significant  additional  cost  or  burden  on  the 
Member States or respondents. 

The Commission points out that the Financial Regulation requires funding to be available and 
that  the  agreement  does  not  prejudge  the  Commission’s  proposal  on  the  next  multiannual 
financial framework. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The  Commission  accepts  the  results  of  the  interinstitutional  negotiations  and  can  therefore 
accept the Council’s position at first reading. 

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