MEPs hit back at 'intimate' Brussels census
HONOR MAHONY
22.11.2007 @ 09:28 CET
MEPs in the European Parliament's social affairs committee say they have blocked an attempt by the European Commission to gather a raft of personal details about European citizens.
Brussels had pushed for the same information to be gathered in national censuses carried out by all member states to help it with its policy-making.
The commission says it needs the information to make better policies (Photo: European Commission)
However, the deputies in the committee on Wednesday (21 November) ruled that the questions went too far.
"I am delighted that the section calling for intimate personal details to be revealed to Government statisticians has been removed," said Derek Clark, an MEP from the UK Independence Party.
One of the proposed questions would have asked women only about the details of their partners.
The question – which has now been scrapped - would have asked the "date(s) of the beginning of consensual union(s) of women having ever been in a consensual union: (ii) first consensual union and (ii) current consensual union".
Mr Clark said when challenged on the question, the commission had "accepted that the question should never have been there in the first place, and if removed, then the Commission would not seek to reintroduce it."
For its part, the commission noted it had been seeking clearer population information from member states to help boost "the quality of analysis and policy evaluation based on the respective statistics."
Under the current system, the 27 member states undertake censuses at different times and gather different information.
According to the commission, the last Population and Housing Census in the European Union (2001) was not based on any European legislation, but instead on a "Gentlemen's agreement".
This meant the data was late and often incomplete, noted the commission. It also pointed out that comparing member states' statistics was difficult because "the reference dates spread over a period of 39 months, stretching from March 1999 (France) to May 2002 (Poland); the data for Malta even refer to November 1995."
Brussels has proposed that the unified EU census would cover a wide range of data including ethnicity, literacy, size and type of family, religion, "relationships between household members," cooking facilities and "energy sources used for heating."
Justifying the call for extensive personal information, the commission said it also needs the data to ensure the "democratic process" in the EU – decision-making is part based on member states' population – and to ensure that its cohesion funds for poor areas are being distributed properly.
Mr Clark said he would keep an eye on the regulation which still has to be voted on by the whole of the parliament before going back to member states for another look.
"(…) the devil is, as ever, in the details. The new version of the regulation allows questions to be inserted at a later date, and I will be keeping a close eye on it in order to protect our privacy."
