European Union - Council of the EU: Subcommittee on Statistics and Working Party on Statistics

The Council of the EU is a body at the level of national ministers and meets in different formats depending on the issues under discussion (e.g. transport, social affairs, environment, agriculture, etc.). Council decisions are discussed by the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER), which consists of the permanent representatives of the Member States to the EU in Brussels (COREPER II) and their deputies (COREPER I). The Committee's activities are prepared by several hundred specialised bodies - committees, subcommittees and working groups made up of delegates from the Member States.

The Council's main preparatory bodies are committees, which may be established by the Treaties, by intergovernmental decision or by an act of the Council. Of these committees, the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), an advisory body established under Article 134 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, is of particular importance to us. Its mission is to monitor and report regularly to the Council and the Commission on the economic and financial situation of the Member States and the EU. The EFC issues opinions at the request of the Council or the Commission and contributes to the organisation of Council meetings. Due to its focus, the Committee operates within the so-called ECOFIN (Economic and Financial Affairs Council). The EFC's agenda includes issues closely related to the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The EFC is one of the few preparatory bodies of the Council that is chaired by a permanent elected President, rather than by a representative of the EU Presidency, as is customary in the Council.

One of the sub-committees of the EFC is the Sub-Committee on Statistics (SCS). The SCS usually meets annually and issues opinions and reports on various statistical issues, such as the administrative burden, government debt and deficit indicators, the main European economic indicators (PEEIs), the status of statistics in the candidate countries, the European Statistics Code of Practice, statistical governance at EU level, the five-year statistical programme, etc. The Czech Republic has representatives - like other EU Member States - both in the EFC (through the Ministry of Finance) and in its Subcommittee on Statistics (through the CZSO) and is thus regularly involved in the discussions in these bodies.

In addition to the Sub-Committee on Statistics, there is a Council Working Party on Statistics, but its main focus is on discussing statistical legislative proposals. This Working Party was set up relatively recently (2003) in the framework of the General Affairs Council (GAC). Until then, draft statistical legislation was discussed in different working bodies according to subject matter (e.g. agriculture, etc.). At present, the Group deals with all draft legislation submitted by the European Commission/Eurostat for which the relevant procedure requires the approval of the Council (and, as a rule, the European Parliament in parallel). This includes all framework legislation (whether in the form of a Regulation, a Decision or, rarely, a Directive) adopted under the co-decision procedure¹ as well as implementing legislation which, once approved at Commission/Eurostat level, is subject to formal scrutiny (review) by the Council and the European Parliament. In addition, the Working Party also addresses some cross-cutting issues that have an impact on the discussion of draft legislation, particularly in the procedural area.

Due to the "technical" nature of statistics (as opposed to the "political" perceived areas), it is in the Council Working Party on Statistics that the most comprehensive debate on legislation takes place. The discussions are attended by experts in the given area of statistics, who are representatives of the CZSO or other ministries, depending on the subject matter of the discussion. The objective is always to reach a compromise that is acceptable to all parties involved - i.e. in particular the Member States and representatives of the Commission/Eurostat and, where appropriate, the European Central Bank, while at the same time finding consensus with the requirements of the European Parliament. Although negotiations at the level of the Council Working Party can be very lengthy, consensus is usually reached and the approval of the draft legislation at the COREPER level and then by one of the formations of the EU Council is only a formality.

April 2023
European Integration Unit, Legislation and International Cooperation Department

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1 Approval by both the Council and the European Parliament is now referred to as the 'ordinary legislative procedure'.