Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2010)774 - European system of national and regional accounts in the EU - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2010)774 - European system of national and regional accounts in the EU. |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2010)774  |
| date | 20-12-2010 |
The overall aim of the project is to revise ESA 95 in order to bring national accounts in the European Union, in line with new economic environment, advances in methodological research and needs of users.
It is therefore essential to have a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union of 2010 (ESA 2010).
The revised ESA should be the appropriate methodological reference for the production of the high quality national accounts data required to support the implementation of major EU policies.
The revision will also be the occasion to further improve the standards of ESA 95 and make them more targeted to the various uses in the EU.
ESA is an essential tool at European level, used for major administrative purposes (e.g. own resources, excessive deficit procedure, structural funds) and for the analysis of the coordination and convergence of Member States’ economic policies.
To achieve the objectives set forth in the Treaty on the European Union, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and more specifically, the Economic and Monetary Union, the ESA provides EU institutions, governments and economic and social operators with a set of harmonised and reliable statistics on which to base their decisions.
The ESA revision follows the revision of the International System of National Accounts (SNA 93). The new SNA (2008 SNA) was published in 2009 by the five international organisations which worked on the new Manual (IMF, OECD, UN Statistical Division, World Bank and Eurostat).
ESA is broadly consistent with the SNA as regards the definitions, accounting rules and classifications. It nevertheless incorporates certain differences, particularly in its presentation which is more in line with its use within the European Union. This specific use requires in fact greater accuracy in the definitions, classifications and accounting rules. Unlike the SNA, the ESA is based on a Regulation comprising binding rules to ensure comparability at EU level, and a compulsory data transmission programme.
Contents
The revision of ESA has been discussed in several groups:
A Steering group of Directors of National Accounts has been set up in order to support the Directors of National Accounts Group in its tasks of:
- providing the required strategic guidance for the success of the project;
- giving advice at the different phases of the project;
- deciding on important methodological issues.
The expertise of the National Accounts Working Group (NAWG) in general, and of the Financial Accounts Working Group (FAWG) on more specific aspects, is an essential element for the success of the ESA 95 revision project. Intensive discussions through meetings and written consultations were necessary to ensure the technical quality of the project. Alongside the NAWG, an ESA 95 Revision Group has been set up in the form of joint meetings of the NAWG and the FAWG, to address issues of common interest to these two working groups.
A technical ECB – Eurostat group on consistency has worked on the harmonisation of the financial and non-financial parts of the system.
A regular reporting to the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) has been made at each step of the revision process. The Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments statistics (CMFB) has been regularly informed.
There were regular contacts with other Directorates General, in particular Economic and Financial Affairs DG and Budget DG.
Eurostat organised a Conference on National Accounts in September 2009 in Brussels, with the participation of users and stakeholders.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT
If ESA was not revised, this would weaken the comparability of national accounts and aggregates, first between Member States as the revision will be the occasion to specify new methodological rules for issues that have emerged in the fifteen last years, secondly at international level as SNA has just been revised.
ESA should continue to be a version of the SNA adapted to the structures of the Member States’ economies and to follow the layout of the SNA to the greatest possible extent so that the European Union’s data are comparable with those compiled by its main international partners.
An analysis of the consequences of the introduction of the revised ESA on the main national accounts aggregates has been discussed by the Sub-Committee on statistics of the Economic and Financial Committee in view of an orientation discussion by the ECOFIN Council in November 2010.
The objective of the Regulation is to revise ESA both concerning the methodology on common standards, definitions, classifications and accounting rules, and the programme for transmitting for Union purposes accounts and tables compiled according to the methodology.
Article 338 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provides the legal basis for the European statistics. Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, the European Parliament and the Council shall adopt measures for the production of statistics, where necessary, on the performance of the activities of the Union. It sets out the requirements relating to the production of European statistics, stating that they must conform to standards of impartiality, reliability, objectivity, scientific independence, cost-effectiveness and statistical confidentiality.
The proposal complies with both the subsidiarity and the proportionality principles.
Concerning the subsidiarity principle, the objectives of the proposal do not fall within the exclusive competence of the European Union and at the same time cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States.
The Member States cannot achieve the central quality concern to the necessary extent without a clear European framework, i.e. European legislation laying down common national accounts methodology and transmission programme.
This is particularly important in the area of national accounts where aggregates are used for multiple purposes at regional and national levels and also at European level (e.g. own resources, excessive deficit procedure, and structural funds).
The objectives of the proposal can be better achieved at European Union level on the basis of a European legal act, because only the Commission can coordinate the necessary harmonisation of national accounts methodology and statistical information at European Union level; the collection of data and compilation of comparable statistics on national accounts, on the other hand, can be organised by the Member States. The European Union may therefore take action to this end in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty.
Concerning the proportionality principle, the Regulation confines itself to the minimum required to achieve its objective and does not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose. It does not specify the national accounts data collection mechanism for each Member State, but merely defines the data to be supplied so as to ensure harmonised structure and timing.
The proposed legal instrument on ESA 2010 is a European Parliament and Council Regulation. A regulation is preferable because it lays down the same provisions throughout the European Union, leaving the Member States with no leeway to apply it incompletely or selectively. It is directly applicable, which means that it does not need to be transposed into national law.
The proposal has no implication for the EU budget.
5. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The proposed act concerns an EEA matter and should therefore extend to the European Economic Area.