Friday

29th Mar 2024

MEPs accuse commission of blocking EU statistics 'whistleblower'

  • National statistical offices must be independent, says the commission, while denying Eurostat the same freedom (Photo: europarl.europa.eu)

Talks aimed at increasing transparency on EU statistical output have collapsed after the European Commission refused to apply the rules it demands of national statistical offices to its own statistical agency.

Lawmakers have been working on a overhaul of the EU's statistical regulation which governs the role of national offices and the EU's own statistical agency, Eurostat, since 2012.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • MEPs say that the European Commission has thwarted plans to make the EU's statistics office more transparent (Photo: European Commission)

EU lawmakers have sought to tighten the regulations governing the work of statistical offices in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the fraud scandal in Greece, where data on the size of the country’s budget deficit was deliberately falsified.

Having forecast a budget deficit of 3.7 percent for 2009, the Greek government was eventually forced to reveal a deficit of 15.4 percent. It was also condemned by the commission for fabricating and manipulating economic statistics.

The scandal plunged the country into crisis and, subsequently, into two EU-funded bailout packages worth a €240 billion in total.

Governments are now required by EU law to ensure that national statistical offices are statutorily independent and free from political influence.

Meanwhile, countries which miss statistical targets on their debt and deficit levels can also be fined under the eurozone's revised economic governance rules.

The legislation tabled by the EU executive in 2012 only applied to national statistics agencies, but MEPs agreed to extend its scope to apply the rules to Eurostat.

An agreement reached following a series of trialogue meetings between MEPs and ministers last summer would have inserted a ‘whistleblower clause’ giving the head of Eurostat the right to challenge the commission if it threatened the independence of the agency.

MEPs also wanted the parliament to be consulted on the nomination of the Eurostat boss and to appear before the assembly's economic affairs committee.

The clause backed by MEPs states that "the director-general shall act in an independent manner and shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government or any institution, body, office, or agency. If the Director-General considers that a measure taken by the Commission calls his or her independence into question, he or she shall immediately inform the European Parliament".

But the commission has argued that Eurostat, which is legally considered part of the commission, should be treated in the same way as other departments of the EU executive.

With MEPs refusing to back down on the point, negotiations on the dossier have now been abandoned.

"Eurostat is part of the commission, and the commission acts politically on the basis of what Eurostat produces," Liem Hoang Ngoc, the MEP tasked with leading parliament's negotiating team on the file, told EUobserver.

"Ensuring that those who use statistics for political purposes are not the same people than those who make them is the very point of this regulation. The commission lauds this principle when it comes to the national level, yet it shamelessly think that the EU can opt out."

Hoang Ngoc, a French centre-left MEP, also accused the commission of political interference during negotiations, commenting that it had "used the full extent of its powers, including threatening to withdraw the legislation and requesting a unanimity vote at the council, to prevent the council from signing off on the agreement."

However, commission spokeswoman Emer Traynor said that the EU executive had "never threatened to withdraw this proposal".

"We really regret that progress on this proposal – which is essential for more independent, reliable and coordinated statistics – has been held up by inter-institutional questions that do not belong in this discussion," she said.

The EU treaties allow the commission to unilaterally re-write or withdraw a proposal. Unlike governments, the EU executive can also insist that a bill be adopted by unanimity among ministers rather than the normal majority.

EU report slams Greece over false statistics

A report published by the European Commission on Tuesday has condemned Greece for falsifying its data on public finances, citing "deliberate misreporting of figures by the Greek authorities in 2009."

Valencia faces EU probe over dodgy statistics

The EU commission has launched a probe into whether the Spanish region of Valencia is guilty of the first case of statistical fraud since the Greek crisis in 2009.

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us