S IGMA 2/2002 Contents 1

▲ Page 5: Romano Prodi – affirming the huge importance of statistics for democracy ▲ Page 34: Carmen Alcaide Guindo – creating a European identity ▲ ▲ Page 22: Ruud van Noort – reinforcing dialogue with policy-makers

Page 38: ▲ Pedro Solbes: high-quality statistics do not come cheap! ▲ ▲ Page 13: Svein Longva on balancing the weights of different user groups ▲ Page 34: Adelheid Bürgi-Schmelz – for more synergies within the ESS

SIGMA COMMENT What about politicians' LOOKING EASTWARDS – numeracy skills ?! ...... 20 our series of profiles on the One goal, one vision ...... 2 … asks John Morley of the Commission's statistical offices of the Eurostat Director-General Yves Franchet DG Employment Candidate Countries continues opens the issue with Slovenia and Hungary All together now for a statistical SIGMA THEME authority ...... 22 Like an early-morning cockerel .. 39 Ruud van Noort, Director-General of Toma Banovec, Director of Slovenia’s THE FUTURE OF THE ESS Statistics Netherlands, pleads for a better CSO, tells Sigma's Glen Campbell how recognition of the ESS he did some vigorous boat-rocking Figures we can trust ...... 5 Commission President Romano Prodi Showcasing 'Statistics Europe' ...... 25 We want to be among the best .. 43 shares his vision of statistics Eurostat Director Daniel Byk on a com- Tamás Mellár, President of Hungary’s mon dissemination strategy CSO, shares his ambitious goals with Getting European statistics out first 6 Sigma's Barbara Jakob Len Cook, Director of the ONS, advo- Now, that's edutainment ...... 28 cates a re-balancing of interests Pedro Campos of INE Portugal shows FOCUS ON MEMBER STATES that statistics can be fun 'Europe First' for what? ...... 8 The world of statistics meets in Paul Champsaur, Director-General of ESS rethink: a puzzle for 25 or Berlin ...... 47 INSEE, takes a pragmatic approach more players ...... 30 Berlin provides the stage for the 2003 Tamás Mellár, Director-General of KSH ISI world congress Eurostat is half way there ...... 11 Hungary, acts as the mouthpiece for the Swaha Pattanaik of Reuters rates Candidate Countries FOCUS ON EUROSTAT European statistics Statistics open the road for A new dawn breaks for social Svein Longva, Director-General of enlargement ...... 32 statistics...... 50 Statistics Norway, claims: DG Enlargement's Maurice Guyader on Eurostat's Paloma Seoane on the "Make the public our boss"...... 13 the crucial role of statistics in the enlarge- change from ECHP to SILC ment process Researchers, come in, please ...... 16 Happy birthday, Eurostat ...... 52 Introducing a Destatis project, which pro- The microphone is yours ...... 34 Eurostat gets ready to celebrate vides the scientific community with access Highlights from the roundtable discussion 50 years of European statistics to statistics Palermo mutates Citizens first ! ...... 18 into an action plan...... 36 Joachim Lamel, Vice-Chairman of the Yves Franchet, Luigi Biggeri and CEIES, promotes a pact with the citizens Commissioner Pedro Solbes with some closing thoughts Editorial S IGMA 2/2002 2

One goal, one vision he European Statistical sion-making, accountability, making. The creation of a applying subsidiarity, the prin- TSystem finds itself at a transparency and so forth. common dissemination plat- ciple needs to be seen as aim- major crossroads. With the form has a central role to ing at more efficiency, per- imminence of enlargement, For the public, a strong legal play in this strategy (see the formance and quality, as put- new governance principles foundation also provides an contribution from Daniel Byk). ting all our efforts together into are beginning to take root indicator of our credibility and a European action. that will shape the Union’s quality, and also puts our inde- Catering better for users fundamental texts and struc- pendence into black and By benchmarking national sys- tures of governance. The time white. These ideas are taken New Governance is, indeed, tems to determine the strengths is therefore ripe to set about up by Ruud Van Noort in his also about responding to citi- and weaknesses of the appli- constructing a new model for contribution on the ESS’s quest zens’ needs because they cation of subsidiarity, the ESS the ESS to enable it to play to become a ‘statistical auth- should know what Europe is will be able to evaluate the its full part in an enlarged ority’. all about in statistical terms. application of the subsidiarity Europe. In fact, enlargement This is why the ESS needs to principle and suggest areas provides us all with an Greater visibility reformulate its mission state- where reversing it and sharing opportunity to stand back ment to make clear that it common tasks, eg. by setting and look at ourselves and Connected with the absent caters for all users with legit- up centres of excellence, could prepare for tomorrow. legal basis, the ESS currently imate needs, is open to all lead to greater efficiency. suffers from a lack of political administrative levels, cares A stronger legal visibility and difficulties to about quality and defends Europe first: foundation lead a discussion on the the principles laid down in a win-win situation major statistical objectives the treaties. The ESS has shown itself to be for the future, and implement The needs of the financial capable of rising to a number the decisions, which follow. But the ESS also needs to markets and the ECB have of challenges, if not moving develop an integrated underlined the fact that in mountains over the last 50 Although the CEIES (Euro- approach in managing rela- several areas European sta- years. Look at the de facto pean Advisory Committee on tions with users and cus- tistics are more relevant than European Statistical System Statistical Information in the tomers, and adopt a common national ones, which is why, that has been set up in Economic and Social Spher- approach to statistics as a for improving quality and Europe, the work on method- es) has provided an interface public good, generally free timeliness, it would be bene- ology and harmonisation, the between users and produc- of charge, based on a com- ficial if the ESS concentrated preparations for the euro or ers, it cannot establish the mon Internet portal with the on producing European fig- enlargement, or the contribu- political debate necessary same standards for data pre- ures before or at the same tion to the world statistical sys- for having a real European sentations. Rethinking the time as national data. tem in sharing and exporting policy for statistics. ESS according to users is at our know-how! This has been the heart of the contributions Of course, this ‘Europe first’ achieved with Eurostat as a This is why it could be useful by both Joachim Lamel, from principle must be introduced stronger and well-recognised to create a European council the viewpoint of the CEIES after strategic analysis involv- Directorate-General of the for official statistics with ade- (p 18), and Svein Longva ing all ESS members on Commission. quate membership to (p 13), who coins the idea of where and how the principle enhance the political debate ‘non-governance’. could be applied. The ESS has actually been run- about statistics in Europe, ning ahead of those movers promote a more integrated Subsidiarity What’s more, it must not and shakers advocating New approach to official statistics as a two-way road jeopardise the quality of Governance, pioneering many in Europe and contribute to national statistics. Paul of the principles put forward. the creation of a real Some of the weaknesses of the Champsaur puts this ‘Europe But the ESS actually doesn’t European statistical identity. ESS lie in the fact that it con- first’ idea to the test in his exist – not legally speaking! sists of different national sys- contribution (p 8). And without a strong legal In addition, the ESS should tems that, although sharing basis nor the connected public have its own brand and por- many common features, have So much for the global vision, recognition, there is a risk that tal, offering a unique picture not been designed to achieve let’s now focus on getting the the ESS won’t be able to tap and using it as a fundamen- a common result. Because of ESS’s house in order in terms the benefits from these new tal tool for communication, this patchwork of systems, and of structural and operational governance principles of deci- collaboration and decision- the problems encountered in aspects. S IGMA 2/2002 Editorial 3

Improving management structures

The current management struc- ture of the ESS, although con- siderably improved in recent years, will most probably buck- le if not snap under the weight of some 30 Member States. The structures can only be effi- ciently organised if we agree and develop a common under- standing of the fundamental processes that we have to run together. Defining those processes and separating their day-to-day running from the strategic revision and re- orientation process will allow for a better division of work within the various administra- tive levels.

The adoption of a common quality framework and a com- mon strategic management framework is a prerequisite for this system’s success. The new management structure should be flexible and open to rele- vant participation, and not to a systematic “national represen- Better strategic planning image, and the notoriety of A stronger scientific basis tation”, giving more room to our institutions at national, the application of quality man- Strategic planning in public European and international And what about links with the agement principles. organisations begins when level. Enhancing their scientific community? The the organisation starts think- capacity and quality recent comparison exercise A quick reaction force ing about the best way to requires that all NSIs benefit with the United States, carried accomplish its mission. The from the best practices in the out in connection with short- The need to make greater use so-called statistical law and system and from their posi- term statistics, swung the spot- of statistical information to the five-year statistical pro- tion within the ESS. light on the weakness of the administer Community poli- gramme are of course very ESS with regard to links cies, the emergence of new good elements, but more is Recognising and reaping the between statistics and scientif- phenomena and the volatility needed if an acceptable benefits of our mutual ic circles. Eurostat has attempt- of what needs to be measured level of strategic planning is strengths, we should have a ed to follow up these results by require the ESS to be more to be reached within the ESS. common cooperative strate- proposing the creation of a able to react very rapidly. The What we need is to explore gy for strengthening the European scientific committee past has shown that often at new ways of working togeth- image and notoriety of the for official statistics that would European level the time er in the management of the ESS. We should all feel bring the two together. between identifying a need strategic planning cycle to responsible for what our and producing the relevant make the organisation func- partners in the ESS are Tapping technology statistical information can be tion in a better coordinated doing; their weaknesses are measured not in months but and synchronised way. in fact the weaknesses of all The question of handling years! There is therefore a of us. Strong and respected technological developments need to consider introducing a Stronger mutual roles NSIs and a strong and together has to be addressed ‘fast track’ procedure with the respected Eurostat should be with the objective of max- goal, whenever urgency is As ESS partners, we should part of our partnership imising the use of common required, to respond to new always try to foster the agreement and a vision tools and solutions. If the ESS demands within a year. capacity, the quality, the shared by all of us. needs to be reengineered, Editorial S IGMA 2/2002 4

the architecture of the new system has to be partly based on a framework whose backbone will be IT The ESS: technology. a working construction More resources Anyone who attempts to search for mention of the ‘ESS’ in EU law will come out of the All this may well sound prom- library with their notebook empty. Although the ESS is a common system that is well-known ising, but are there the and routine for statisticians all over the EU and beyond, it remains a working construction resources? Resources are a with no explicit legal foundation. perennial problem at both national and Community The ESS describes a network of cooperation between Eurostat and the national statistical level, but there is not enough authorities in the EU member countries that collect official statistics. Norway, Iceland, joint discussion on the matter Liechtenstein, Switzerland and the Candidate Countries have observer status. and no common solutions. Despite the many opportuni- The notion ‘European Statistical System’ was first coined in a Eurostat document presented ties, we are not able to reap to NSIs no earlier than 1988. However, the beginnings of such coordination can be dated the benefits. And without the back to 1953 when Eurostat was created as a Statistical Division of the High Authority to necessary political clout to meet the requirements of the Coal and Steel Community. shape policy decisions, it will not be possible to tackle the Following the Treaty of Rome in 1958, the Statistical Division turned into a joint service of problem of resources proper- the then institutions, European Coal and Steel Community, European Economic Community ly. In terms of cost – and this and Euratom, under the official name, ‘Statistical Office of the European Communities’. brings us back to increasing our visibility – we need to Eurostat as a broker help people not only under- stand the net gains society Eurostat’s role in this network is mainly to act as a broker in the search for common solutions makes by having statistics, but and, in general, to forward harmonisation and to provide the statistical information base also the losses which would required for EU policy. stem from their absence. At the heart of the ESS is the Statistical Programme Committee (SPC), which is chaired by This is not a messianic vision, Eurostat and brings together the heads of Member States’ national statistical offices. The but just some indicative ways SPC discusses the most important joint actions and programmes to be carried out to meet of how we can push forward EU information requirements and, particularly, agrees on the five-year Community Statistical and deepen our reflection on Programme. the tomorrowland of the ESS. But we all have to get our Set up in 1991, the Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics heads down on this. We (CMFB) and the European Advisory Committee on Statistical Information in the Economic would also be wise to bend a and Social Spheres (CEIES) also play a central role in the network, particularly in high-level receptive ear to the Candi- consultation among statisticians and between statisticians and users. date Countries who will not only be future Member A legal footing for Community statistics States, but also have the ben- efit of doing everything With the inclusion of Article 285 in the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997, Community statistics afresh (see Tamás Mellár’s received for the first time a constitutional basis enshrining the principles of professional ethics. contribution for the Candi- date Countries’ vision of the In the same year, the Council of the European Union adopted what is known as the ESS on page 30). What is Statistical Law. This regulation writes down the rules of organisation that gradually had essential is to build a climate been developed between national and Community statistical authorities and defines the of mutual confidence that is basic conditions, procedures and general provisions governing official statistics at EU necessary for constructive level. Finally, a Commission Decision reaffirmed and placed the role and independence dialogue, because our future of Eurostat within the Commission on an official footing. Therefore, while some parts of depends on our capacity to the system have had their legal roots firmly planted, the ESS, as such, is like a mature work together in trust. tree on bad soil, without an explicit legal foothold – a fact perceived as a weak spot by European statisticians, and one that, with view to enlargement, gets all the more cru- Yves Franchet cial to address. Eurostat Director-General S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 5

ROMANO PRODI, President of the European Commission, attaches great importance to statistics and understands full well that EMU and enlargement are the two big challenges statistics has to rise to. Here, he shares his vision … Figures we can trust

hat better time to reflect thanks in particular to the timely ence of the national and Com- ination of statistics – and by that Won the future of the and accurate information Euro- munity institutes and the overrid- I mean quick dissemination of European Statistical System stat and the NSIs supplied. ing need for all the bodies con- data that are easy to grasp – (ESS) – the debate on the cerned to apply best practices. keeps the problem in proportion. European Convention is in full Now that the EU has given fur- swing, ushering in a new and ther proof of its shared destiny Equally important is the ‘Europe For statistics to be a real tool of decisive phase in the reform of by taking the plunge on the com- first’ initiative. The euro economy democracy, the figures must be the EU institutions. The ESS will mon currency, reliable statistics is an entirely new phenomenon both reliable and easy to grasp. need to find its place in this new are just as valuable a public that needs observing and I fully realise how complicated institutional landscape, at the asset as the stability of the euro’s describing. ‘Europe first’ can this is. First, there are the charac- same time as rising to the chal- value over time. For the coordi- help provide valuable knowl- teristics of the data themselves – lenges of enlargement and nation of fiscal and budgetary edge of the euro at aggregate how accurately they were col- EMU. In each of these areas of policy, decisions and recommen- level, and I am pleased and lected, recorded and processed European integration, statistics dations addressed to the EU as a encouraged by this. – which all fall within the statisti- plays a vital role. whole and the individual Mem- cian’s responsibility. Then there is ber States must be based on reli- Through this integration effort, the way the data are presented Clearly, for enlargement to hap- able, accurate statistics. and by putting the EU rather than and disseminated. And here the pen smoothly, our policies need the national level first, the responsibility of the professional to be applied sensibly so that the At a time like the present, with its European Statistical System will statistician dovetails with that of economic and social life in the far-reaching challenges and live- be able to catch up in some government. Candidate Countries converges ly constitutional debate, the EU aspects with the US, for instance. with that of current Member has an interest and a duty to Of course, different logistical, his- Stemming the flood States. But no policy can be fully raise the issue of the way Com- torical and institutional conditions effective unless it is based on munity statistics are to be man- make it difficult to compare the There is also the challenge of accurate, detailed knowledge of aged, as it did for the currency. US and the EU. But economic data overload. A recent study the basic data. And this, in turn, and financial management of the puts world production of new depends on the data being both The challenge facing us now is EU of the single currency calls for information annually at 250 reliable and easily comparable to develop a genuine system of more frequent surveys and more megabytes for each person on at EU level. This calls for the har- statistics that incorporates both timely, quality data. earth – man, woman and child. monisation of survey methods, national and Community dimen- The total figure is so large it working tools and organisation. sions. The European Statistical Political leaders and economists defies imagination – between System is an important tool in are not the only people who one and two exabytes of data, or Valuable public asset this respect. need statistics. In a democracy, 10 to the power of 18. This all citizens need them. If we want means that we are inundated by Economic and Monetary Union The watchwords of to express an informed judge- a veritable flood of data. A flood poses just as great a challenge independence, quality, ment, we must bear a whole you must help us stem. Helping for statistics as enlargement. The timeliness string of factors in mind, ranging us to manage and navigate work performed by national sta- from population to level of edu- through this rising sea of data, tistical institutes was crucial to The principle of independence cation, from absolute size of the placing quality over quantity is the introduction of the euro. Your of production of Community sta- economy to growth rate. the most important contribution speed in responding to the chal- tistics is enshrined in Article 285 the ESS can make. lenge posed by the euro was of the Treaty. This applies in par- Lifting the fog remarkable. The changeover – ticular to statistics on government What the ESS is asked to do is no which called for an organisa- deficit and debt in connection A few, well-chosen, well-present- mean task: it means restoring our tional and logistical effort with the Stability and Growth ed figures can be more helpful fellow citizens’ faith in figures and unmatched in economic history Pact. Here, I must stress the impor- and much more enlightening affirming the huge importance of – went through without a hitch, tance of the scientific independ- than hours of talk. Good dissem- statistics for democracy. ■ The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 6

he advent of the euro late, unlike culture, identity and “Tand the place of Europe place. We need to reorient sta- Europe's top as a distinct political and eco- tistics against the background of nomic identity have increased crumbling national borders in the pressure for Europe-wide many areas.” statistics. The ESS is expected statisticians to provide the quality and time- Overlapping interests liness normal for any state of the size and economic signifi- Mr Cook observes that, in gen- cance of the EU. This has natu- eral, NSIs are perceived to be in Palermo rally led to comparisons with more concerned with national the USA, in the scope, form and sub-national users and and timeliness of EU-wide eco- Eurostat with EU-wide needs. nomic statistics.” This suggests a perennial conflict between EU and national needs. And this is exactly where the However, “in reality there is a ‘Europe First’ idea comes into significant overlap with national play. Market integration and the and regional users requesting common currency have given comparable statistics from primary importance to indicators across the EU, and the EU that affect financial and eco- increasingly requiring sub- nomic conditions in the national statistics for policy pur- European market. For Len Cook, poses.” the conclusion of the EU becom- ing a distinct entity is clear: “We The two types of interest can- should all strive for getting not easily be separated. “In European statistics out first.” reality, NSIs have two parallel focal points in providing Speeding up domestic and Eurostat needs”, Mr Cook says. Rather than Producing timely European drawing such an artificial line, aggregates of key market sensi- he suggests looking at the pri- tive measures cannot, in his ority domains, which differ at opinion, supplant national fig- the EU, and the national and ures. “National figures will con- regional levels. tinue to be important not only for benchmarking but also for moni- While Europe-wide measures toring policy implementation, focus first on wealth creation normally carried out at a nation- and the market, interest rates, al level, for structural studies and exchange rates, inflation and the It was not the first – and it will probably not be business cycle analysis.” Rather dynamics of the macro econo- the last time that Europe's top statisticians put than squeezing out national my, the sub-national level places their heads together to think about "The future of data, ‘Europe First’ should be more emphasis on the environ- the European Statistical System". What better interpreted as allowing for differ- ment, personal safety and crime occasion to reflect on future needs, challenges and ent production timetables for EU and the equity in service avail- workings of the statistical system with ten new aggregates and national figures. ability. At the national level, the statistical mix is comprehensive countries waiting to join the EU family, increasing Globalisation is one more and comprises equally the vari- the number of EU Member States to 25! aspect contributing to the grow- ous types of economic statistics, ing significance of European sta- social and environmental statis- Sigma seized the opportunity of the latest DGINS* tistics: “Increasingly, the nation is tics, among others. meeting in Palermo to gather opinions, viewpoints, not an effective boundary for statements, and to take an in-depth look at the containing organisations in a Other than in the economic strategies and visions presented on the burning global economy. Within Europe, field, where there is a pre- issues of "Identity and visibility of the ESS", labour, capital markets and envi- dominant interest in providing "Europe First", users and, of course, enlargement. ronmental considerations cross early European aggregates, political structures. Money, Mr Cook sees much less imme- * French acronym for Directors-General of National Statistical Offices goods, jobs and workers circu- diacy to do so in the social S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 7

LEN COOK, the UK’s National Statistician and Director of the Office for “more vigorously”. He also National Statistics (ONS), stresses a better common understanding of ‘Europe thinks that Eurostat should be First’ and shares Paul Champsaur’s view about the areas where it could best be the sole and unique reference hub where all European policy put into practice. But he also has some distinct views on the roles and the func- organisations articulate their tions of the future ESS and its different movers and shakers. information needs. “There needs to be a clear under- standing at Eurostat across the whole spectrum of these Getting European needs.”

That’s not all. Eurostat needs statistics out first to continue to fulfil its role of building up increased trust between countries while the area. Coherence and compa- national institutions cultivate rability are qualities that are their relations with citizens, first and foremost required in retaining their trust in statistics this field. However, this poses and their understanding of it the problem of translating cul- as a vital cog in the democrat- tural background – tremen- ic machinery. dously important for the description of social phenome- Mr Cook also calls for increas- na – into international stan- ing awareness about govern- dards. ment policies affecting the pro- duction and provision of statis- Managing tensions better tical data, such as the freedom of information, pricing poli- Discouraging? No need to be. cies, data protection and For Mr Cook, these kinds of ten- secrecy acts etc. The differ- sions between various interests ences in these policies from and views are perfectly normal: one country to another are “Think of the difficulties we have often an obstacle for more uni- in our own countries when we fied action within the ESS. try to find an agreement on a “Eurostat should therefore try standard for more than one to foster a clear view of what field. The issue is not to remove the European position is on those tensions nor forget that general policy areas affecting they exist, but to keep finding official statistics.” better ways of managing in spite of them.” The New Zealander, Len Cook (52), took over as Director Mr Cook’s vision of the future of the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) in May 2000. ESS is a network in which A re-balancing of interests in Before becoming the UK’s National Statistician and Director “partner countries can readily statistical information at all of the ONS, he spent almost 30 years with Statistics New share the knowledge, tools and ends of the ESS seems there- Zealand (SNZ) – among others, as Deputy Government practices commonly held to be fore necessary. We need to Statistician and, before heading for London, as Chief best practice in the ESS”. But it clear the fog over what Executive. does not stop there – it would Europe-wide policies are and also “enable all parts of the over which national policies ESS to develop better, through the information base can be pean context.” One concrete and that might offer a possible the sharing of good practices effectively prepared only on a example is foreign trade solution.” and the collaborative develop- Europe-wide basis. where, with Intrastat, a com- ment of core systems”. All in mon solution has already Clearly understanding all, it would not only be an Mr Cook explains: “We must been put in place or the issue the needs “intellectual and political sys- recognise clearly where, in of an ageing population. “If tem but also a technological fact, there is no distinct coun- we just look at what is going In the future ESS, Mr Cook and scientific network that con- try solution to problems with- on in our own countries, we hopes that all its bodies will stantly works towards improv- out understanding the Euro- fail to see the trends elsewhere be able to perform their roles ing statistical processes.” ■ The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 8

‘Europe First’ is a slogan that appears on each and every single agenda of statisti- cians’ meetings. And for a very good reason: it describes the dilemma, in which make close harmonisation of Europe’s statistics finds itself – being a group of nations but having to compete with the data legitimate. The users – par- one big nation, the US, in terms of early provision of statistical indicators. ticularly businesses themselves – rightly demand it. PAUL CHAMPSAUR, Director-General of France’s INSEE, takes both a broad and pragmatic approach to the issue and poses one central question: “When is it desirable However, this does not mean and legitimate to look for ‘European’ data first and foremost?” that European authorities should be served before national author- ities and users. What it means is ‘Europe First’ for what? that the construction of Europe has resulted in a new reference he new millennium marks a els, but which would make it ‘Europe First’ highly framework, which is very impor- Tnew stage in the creation of a possible to construct an aggre- demanded tant and has made the old European statistical area. With gate European index far more national ones less relevant. EMU, economic information has quickly. Looking at the three main sta- become vital not just for the tistical fields – business statis- Statisticians must therefore dedi- Community authorities but for a However, other aspects are not tics, social data and macro- cate themselves to finding instru- whole range of users, com- suitable for the European situa- economics – it seems to me ments that are suitable for pelling us to review and tighten tion, such as economic statistics that the first two are at either describing this field. This task is our production timetable for cer- constructed solely to meet feder- extreme, while the last falls sufficiently important that the tain indicators. al needs. The US approach can- somewhere in the middle of focus of the main European reg- not therefore be used systemati- this continuum. ulations on enterprises should not Then there is the forthcoming cally. Our approach must be suit- be diverted to purposes other enlargement of the European ed to the non-federal nature of Starting with business statistics, than providing as accurate as Union – a first in history in terms our institutions. It must be both this is an area to which the possible a description of the sys- of scale. Enlargement will less systematic and more prag- expression ‘Europe First’ is well tems of production (for example, undoubtedly expose the fragile matic. So, let me take a prag- suited. The relative similarity of environmental concerns, legiti- nature of some of the ESS’ con- matic approach and try to the accounting frameworks and mate as they are, should be structions and force NSIs and answer the question as to which commercial law, the Single addressed elsewhere). Eurostat to make an unprece- fields the expression ‘Europe Market and the fact that compe- dented effort, even to review First’ could sensibly apply. tition law is essentially European, Overcoming statistical their working methods from the barriers bottom upwards. Europe will become more heterogeneous, More specifically, the demand and paradigms such as the one for information on European on formal harmonisation, which groups is clearly going to grow was valid in a Europe of different very quickly, given that the rele- but still relatively homogeneous vant agent for analysing groups countries, will lose their relevance. is definitely the European Union. For the moment, this demand When it comes to speeding up cannot be met: the lack of a har- the provision of EMU data, the monised identifier for enterprises US statistical system is a refer- creates a kind of ‘statistical barri- ence point for the ESS. But as er’, which is completely anachro- such, it must be looked at in a nistic and which makes it very balanced way. There are parts difficult to monitor enterprises out- of it that we should make an side national frameworks. effort to imitate, particularly the Eurostat should make an effort to wealth of statistical information resolve this issue. and early provision of certain good-quality indicators. To give you another example, the After graduating from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, Paul ‘Europe First’ rule would seem to In certain cases, this could be a Champsaur (58) started his carrier as professor of economics imply that Eurostat should publish justification for implementing in France and at Leuven University in Belgium and worked as much aggregated data as innovative technical solutions, especially on micro economics and economic policy. In 1984, possible given that, particularly such as supplying preliminary he took over as Vice-Director of the Economic Forecasting in industry, the relevant markets national sub-indices which could Department at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, before are no longer national, but not be interpreted at national lev- being appointed Director-General of INSEE in 1992. European. S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 9

Europe First !? earlier than national surveys We are therefore entering fields do (or also to use other where trying to produce truly har- ince the European Monetary More generally, and in the con- sources). This could possibly monised data is often illusory. SUnion (EMU) materialised text of benchmarking with the imply that the data could no And the problem cannot general- into banknotes and coins, the USA, ‘Europe First’ refers pure- longer be representative at a ly be solved by correcting the call of the financial markets and ly to the timeliness of the data national level or that a break- data, as doing so simply intro- the ECB has been getting loud- and of speeding up the delivery down by country could no duces a second bias: that of the – er to speed up the provision of of national data so that an longer be available. necessarily different – conven- market-relevant euro-zone data. aggregate can be provided earli- tions that the various Member er than is currently the case. Finally, ‘Europe First’ can States have opted for when defin- And there is good reason for The underlying concepts and also be interpreted more ing the correction methods. turning the volume control up surveys would basically be widely from the viewpoint – high. Comparing this newly unchanged except for more esti- in Paul Champsaur’s words – In certain cases, formally har- created ‘euro economy’ with mation methods being used and “that the construction of monising the data is not even that of the US, another world aggregates being based also on Europe has resulted in a new remotely desirable, as the infor- economy of about the same preliminary national data. reference framework, which mation is impoverished in com- size, reveals that major market- ‘Europe First’ would be a sort of has made the old paradigms parison with the unharmonised relevant indicators in the US are counter-project to ‘Europe last’ less relevant” and which calls, product. It would therefore be bet- published well before those in as Sweden’s Director-General as a consequence, for a closer ter to retain the national measur- the euro-zone. In this context, Svante Öberg puts it. harmonisation of European ing tools and, in international the term ‘Europe First’ has been statistics and for a suprana- comparisons, add metadata to coined. But just as is the case More specifically, ‘Europe tional approach, for example, explain the conceptual differ- with all buzzwords for compli- First’ refers to ‘European sur- in the case of multinational ences between the various cated processes, it can be inter- veys’, ie. surveys designed to enterprise groups and their Member States. preted in several ways: meet a specific European need activities. All things considered, it is often However, to achieve this goal, they need to monitor the policies demand for statistics simply preferable to maintain the nation- the difficulties related to statistical they have implemented. So refers to politically sensitive data, al series to which the public and secrecy must be overcome. If here, countries come first. such as ‘lifelong learning’. There the users are accustomed, for Eurostat were to publish aggre- is no common social policy here example, when analysing sensi- gate data and NSIs published However, having established either, but it is easy to under- tive phenomena such as poverty. national data, it would, in certain that principle, one cannot deny stand that the political authorities At the least, this should be done cases, be possible to deduce that there is also demand for would like to have a snapshot of until these users take such an easily identifiable data. This social statistics at European the current state of affairs. interest in European data that would contravene the rules on level. But this demand is almost Though this concern is valid, we they will no longer accept the confidentiality. If Eurostat is to never justified by there being a should strive to avoid creating a hard core of non-comparability, publish more aggregated Euro- common social policy. plethora of structural indicators which characterises them at the pean data, the NSIs should and to warn against the illusion present time. restrict themselves to publishing There are actually two types of that they are perfectly har- national data only where doing demands. In some cases, the monised tools, which, over time, In any event, creating European so would be compatible with the demand is to satisfy a need for would make it possible to rank social statistics must not be rules of statistical secrecy, taking certain knowledge in order to Member States. reduced to a simple bureaucratic into account European publica- implement an action outside procedure where Eurostat would tions. social policy. For example, the A European mould draw up draft regulations on the EU does not have a common won’t help basis of the inchoate requests ‘Countries first’ employment policy. However, as from various Commission depart- in the social area the structural funds are allocated Another danger to be aware ments or from the Council. What in part according to the rate of of is that, in many cases, the is needed in these fields is in- I would put social statistics at the unemployment, and one wishes need for knowledge will hard- depth technical instruction and a other end of the spectrum. These to avoid injustices when allocat- ly be met by imposing a single thorough analysis of what touch upon fields governed by ing them, there is a clear need to European mould. The con- already exists in the various national policies – and will harmonise the definitions of cepts underlying the produc- Member States. doubtless remain so for a very unemployment (more specifical- tion of social statistics, which long time. Priority must therefore ly, of the level of unemployment) are formally harmonised Economic statistics be given to preparing statistics and of the active population. reflect institutional, administra- half-way between for national purposes and, in tive, fiscal, etc. realities which particular, to providing national In other cases – particularly for vary profoundly from one Between these two extremes – decision-makers with the tools certain structural indicators – the Member State to the next. one where Europe clearly has pri- The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 10

ority and where data must be further and say that in this con- of the slowdowns in Germany sive, they should be able to use highly harmonised, and the text and the United States. a greatly simplified method. other where the individual countries clearly have priority it is neither possible, This example shows that the eco- Clearly, if the objective is to and where the need for har- nor“ useful to distin- nomic cycles within the euro- have good quality and timely monisation is weaker – we find guish between zone are not perfectly synchro- short-term information at the economic statistics. European and nation- nised. Clearly, given Germany’s European level and if this de- al needs. size, any slowdown in its econo- pends on good-quality and fast These are in the middle for two ” my will have an impact on the data from the ‘big’ and less so reasons. First of all, responsibility Rather than opening the door to aggregated data for the euro- from the ‘small’ countries, then it for macroeconomic guidance of a possible separation between zone. But it is essential to know would be neither reasonable the countries in the euro-zone is ‘European’ statistics (ie. those that this does come from Ger- nor useful to have the same shared between the ECB, which constructed for European pur- many, or, to look at this from a expectations of them. handles monetary policy, and the poses) and ‘national’ statistics, wider perspective, from one national authorities, which han- the two types of needs must be country rather than from It would certainly be constructive dle budgetary policy, although kept congruent. On the one another. and sufficient for both the small their freedom in this respect is hand, new European require- countries and Europe if they partly restricted by the stability ments – and there are many There is no specific European could provide a certain number and growth pact. legitimate ones – must have a need which would be met simply of statistics on a quarterly rather positive impact on our produc- by providing aggregated data than a monthly basis. Secondly, macroeconomic vari- tion of statistics and thus, at the for the whole of the euro-zone, ables on the labour market serve same time, improve the informa- as the European authorities can I would like to see the same pru- many purposes. For the tion available to decision-makers hardly be indifferent to the fact dence and pragmatism applied European and national authori- and national users. On the other, that a shift in the trend of eco- for social statistics. Formal har- ties, they are crucial for analysing European needs will be better nomic growth comes from a par- monisation as hitherto practised the state of the economy, but, at met if the relevance and accura- ticular country (or group of coun- works well when economic and the same time, they are largely cy of national data series is tries) or even an economic agent other accompanying conditions determined by national policies maintained. in that country. of the countries are sufficiently (the length of the working week, homogeneous. But with enlarge- whether or not there is a mini- Why aggregates In other words, as Europeans, it ment, we will go towards more mum wage, the amount of unem- won’t suffice is in our shared interest that the heterogeneity. ployment benefit, etc.). For these statistical information on any of reasons, the ideal would be to This need is clearly crucial for the ‘large’ countries be detailed Gentlemen’s agreements could satisfy European and national turning points in the economic and reliable. Thus, with regard be a way forward. In the field of demand simultaneously. cycle. Let me give you an exam- to economic statistics, ‘large’ social statistics they would be ple. In late 2000, a slowdown in countries undeniably have an subject to a probation period, Germany alone accounts for activity in the United States was obligation to produce results which should lead to good qual- 30% of the euro-zone’s GDP. The expected, and it was known that although the principle of sub- ity reports allowing the compa- two largest countries account for this would inevitably affect sidiarity remains fully applicable rability of data to be tested. 50%, and the four largest for Europe. However, for the analy- and the technical means they use 80%. Because of this high sis of the European economy – to achieve these results should, in In the economic area, they are a degree of economic concentra- and for the quality of short-term the majority of cases, be solely flexible method to rapidly imple- tion, it is legitimate to make a dis- forecasts – the key element was up to them. ment new measures and to cush- tinction between ‘large’ and the information on the weakness ion the shock of shortened dead- ‘small’ countries in a way that of the German economy begin- Without a shade of lines. would clearly be irrelevant in any ning in summer 2000, that is, “a doubt, the require- other context. without any direct link to the US ment that ‘small’ I do not intend to question the economy. countries provide ‘statistical acquis’ nor do I haz- No conflict of priorities exactly the same ard going backwards. Regul- The German slowdown was ini- information as ‘large’ ations and, in particular, frame- In the field of economic statistics, tially caused by weak household ones should be con- work regulations in certain at least with regard to the ‘large’ consumption, generally attrib- signed to the past. areas and aspects will continue countries – ie. those whose situa- uted to high oil prices. At the ” to be of high importance. tion necessarily influences that of same time, most of the euro-zone In any case, particularly with the euro-zone – there should not economies were still growing regard to short-term economic But, to stress what I said earlier, be any contradiction or conflict of strongly. Only during the first statistics, if several ‘small’ coun- a single mould won’t fit for all. A priorities between national and half of 2001 did they begin to tries consider that the burden this differentiated tactic, I am con- European needs. I would go even suffer from the combined impact might impose on them is exces- vinced, will bring us forward. ■ S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 11

Financial markets and the media are among those users putting a lot of pressure on European statistics to improve, particularly in terms of timeliness. Sigma asked SWAHA PATTANAIK of Reuters, the news and financial information agency, to rate European statistics. What she says gives plenty of food for thought. Eurostat is half way there

inancial market economists, Swaha Pattanaik is the less timely. Still, official statis- faring now, let alone how it Fwho analyse data for fast- Brussels-based EU corre- tics have the stamp of authori- will be doing next month. reacting traders, are exacting spondent on economic and ty and remain the benchmarks taskmasters. The last time monetary affairs for for policy-makers and finan- It is not just financial markets Reuters polled such analysts, Reuters, the international cial markets. that are grumbling about eco- they gave Eurostat 5.5 out of news and financial informa- nomic reports, which they say 10 for its data – only slightly tion company with almost National economic reports are outdated by the time, they better than the rating of 5 out of 200 offices around the from Germany, France, Italy, are released. The European 10 they had given it in the first world. or the UK, attract considerable Central Bank (ECB) and other two years of monetary union. attention from the currency policy-makers who steer the So why was the glass half She covers EU macroeco- and bond markets as they European economy through empty? nomic policy, EU finance paint a broad-brush picture of troubled waters are relying on ministers’ meetings, and the the health of the EU or euro- information that is a few Financial experts and private regular diet of economic zone economy well before the months behind the curve when individuals have an insatiable statistics released by aggregated EU and euro-zone they make decisions that will appetite for up-to-date informa- Eurostat and the European figures are available. affect the future. tion on the health of economies Commission. Previously and firms. The current climate based in London, she has In fact, private economists can Eurostat has responded by pub- of uncertainty has got them been writing about financial usually take a pretty good lishing an early estimate of scouring the newswires and markets, macroeconomic guess at what Eurostat figures euro-zone inflation. Also, more papers for clues to when stock policy, and economic indi- will show once they have seen timely official data is available markets will end their relentless cators since 1991. the national data that are from the Commission, which decline and the world’s biggest released by Europe’s biggest releases economic sentiment economies embark on a solid economies. This doesn’t surveys and model-based fore- recovery. used to hang on every eco- detract from the value of casts of quarterly euro-zone nomic report but are now Eurostat’s pan-European fig- growth rates. These are the offi- This puts official statistics at a increasingly inclined to take ures as pretty much the only cial pan-EU reports that get the significant disadvantage to the their cue from stock markets, official snapshots of the health most attention from financial daily drip of news from compa- corporate news, or rumours of the region’s economy. markets and the media. nies and the surveys released about cross-border mergers by private organisations. Firms’ and acquisition. But financial experts seem to It’s all in the packaging sales figures can give an insight be more interested in such fig- into consumer demand long Anecdotal evidence aside, ures as a matter of historical Gathering the data and ensur- before national figures are there are the soundings of record, and as useful fodder ing it is harmonised to pro- available, their investment business health, such as the for models which crunch the duce reliable statistics on the plans are a key indicator of Reuters purchasing managers’ numbers and try to predict the EU economy may be the hard- confidence and future produc- surveys, which give an up-to- future. Rarely do the reports est part of Eurostat’s job. tion, and the layoffs they date overview of how the move markets. Moreover, such raw statistics announce today will feed into manufacturing or service sec- may be enough for those who the official jobless figures only tor is faring and firms’ plans Most figures released by have the time to go through months later. for the coming months. Eurostat show how the econo- the figures in detail. But to get my was doing one or two the biggest bang for their The foreign exchanges, the Most of the data released by months ago, rather than giv- buck, it is vital that statistics biggest market in the world, national statistics offices are ing much insight into how it is offices don’t fall at the final The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 12

hurdle – the presentation of all demand for more insight into sort of data needed to test the official statistics released their hard work. the health of the European the latest theories on why by the various candidate economy. some economies do better countries. News agencies – the first port than others. One example of of call for traders who want to Reliable measures of such data would be a price The problems have less to do know about economic data – changes in EU productivity index of information technol- with their timeliness than with are inundated with information would be one of the first ogy in constant performance the extensiveness of the data and ideally want to know well items on the wish list. There is terms. some of these countries com- in advance that an economic little use in policy-makers pile. For example, one coun- report is going to come out so complaining that the EU lags Still, a more realistic goal try’s breakdown of gross they can prepare for it properly. the United States on this front might be an index of leading domestic product gives figures if there is no official data – indicators at EU level, even for net exports without listing Some national offices have yet no matter how flawed or con- though it would undoubtedly exports and imports separate- to get this first step right. troversial. Without hard num- take time to establish the rep- ly. Reliability is another issue Germany, Europe’s largest bers, there is no way of utation of such a statistic. — a sharp revision to economy, is a case in point, knowing if and when we Hungary’s current account last with statistics frequently have caught up. Problems loom year is just one of the glitches released with very little or no which has stuck in the minds advance warning. On all these issues, Eurostat Eurostat and national statis- of the financial markets. is to some extent at the mercy tics offices may be working When each second counts, of national statistics offices to improve matters in some of Economists are far from sure wire journalists also always and the data they collect. It is these areas but the problems that all these problems will be prefer to have a release under understandable that national could get worse following the ironed out in time for enlarge- embargo. This gives them the statistics offices, let alone looming enlargement of the ment – in which case 5 out of time they need to make sense one at the EU level, do not European Union. Private 10 may come to seem like a of the data and look beyond move as quickly as private economists say there are still pretty good grade for pan-EU the headline numbers to the institutions in gathering the large discrepancies between statistics. ■ interesting details that tell the real story.

Add context to journalists’ wish http://www.reuters.com list – a 10 percent decline is always more interesting if it is the biggest drop in a year than if it is the largest in a year and it is far more newsworthy if inflation has been above the ECB’s self- set two percent ceiling for 24 months rather than two.

Having statisticians on hand to dig up this sort of information before the report is due to be published is helpful. Britain’s national statistics office, for example, is particularly good at giving such briefings. An indication of the trend is also always interesting as is any additional insight into the key forces driving the economy.

Theories one step ahead

Apart from improving the pres- entation and timeliness of the data that Eurostat already compiles, there is always a S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 13

In just the same league as Joachim Lamel (see page 18), SVEIN LONGVA, us of the UN fundamental prin- Director-General of Statistics Norway, calls for a broad user orientation of the ciples of statistics, Svein ESS, which would give users falling outside the narrow scope of ‘governance’ Longva reads in them the obli- gation for official statistics to equal chances to influence statistical priorities and access information. He holds produce impartial and relevant up the UN fundamental principles of statistics as a roadmap, and points to ways statistics for the whole of socie- of balancing the weights of different user groups. ty and accessible for everyone under equal conditions. And he refers to Commission President, Romano Prodi who said that “Make the public information is essential for the freedom of individuals and for democratic participation.

“I interpret this as an obligation our boss” for statistics in democratic soci- eties to serve the general public ou don’t necessarily have head down on this before the and the users outside the gov- Yto have clocked up a life- different requirements are truly Official statistics provide an ernment sector and to enable time in statistics to realise that balanced out. Governance – indispensable element in the them to actively take part in the statistics moves with the times. serving governance can be information system of a dem- public debate.” This quickly The role of official statistics has briefly described as the mission leads to official statistics being ocratic society, serving the been changing with the of statistics – is still too often regarded as a public good, as increasing complexity of our confined to administrative and government, the economy and something whose usefulness for societies, with new planning economic public management the public with data about the one user will not be reduced by and management mechanisms, whereas a more comprehen- economic, demographic, social it being used by others. In the with the increasing literacy of sive interpretation, comprising case of statistics, it might even and environmental situation. the population and the further also democratic participation, be the opposite – that its value development of democratic would be appropriate. To this end, official statistics increases with usage. societies, and not least with that meet the test of practical growing international coopera- Policy needs and needs of the utility are to be compiled and Public goods however cannot tion, market liberalisation and public, aren’t they largely con- be left to market forces: “No made available on an impar- globalisation. gruent? one has the sole right to use the tial basis by official statistical results, which means that there An important aspect of this “They might be in parts but not agencies to honour citizens’ will be too little production of development has been the necessarily in every single entitlement to public informa- that public good, ’statistics’. increased user focus and grow- aspect. So, one part of the Providing the basis for public tion. ing awareness of the multiple question is indeed whether the debate in an unbiased manner purposes official statistics ESS also covers the real inter- UN fundamental principles without being coloured by one serves. Until some 20 years ests of the general public or or the other interest is the cen- of statistics, §1 ago, the production of official whether it concentrates on what tral task of official statistics. statistics was in general rather is demanded by policy-makers. Leaving this task to private infor- static and production oriented, But it is also about whom we own and free from political mation providers, would endan- and often driven by the require- are orienting ourselves tow- interference.” ger democracy”, Mr Longva ments of government. ards, how we publish things, worries. the way we formulate our Statistics for freedom However, the broader user results and the way we dis- and democracy Balancing priorities focus and the increased impor- seminate them. tance of official statistics in dem- Imagine an ESS mission state- In addition, the increased focus ocratic societies pose new chal- Finally, the question is also, in ment reading along the lines on statistics as more or less lenges in defining the border- a more general perspective, of: “Be it an individual or a directly applicable for gover- lines of official statistics and in how we are perceived by the company, small or large, we nance or public management, setting priorities and weighting public – as an extension of the don’t care: we cater for all at national and European lev- the requirements of different governance sector of each users.” Marketing experts els, can lead to bias in priority users. country and of the Commis- could probably word this bet- setting – only subject areas con- sion in Brussels or simply as ter, but the rough message is sidered to be ‘good for gover- Community statistics, Mr an independent information one that Svein Longva would nance’ get priority and Longva feels must still keep its provider, an apparatus of our definitely endorse. Reminding resources, whereas areas with The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 14

2001. Background statistics Svein Longva (58) has spent were published on topics such a lifetime in statistics – start- as previous election participa- ing at Statistics Norway as a tion rates, living conditions, student in 1966, he continu- health, environment, labour ously climbed up the ladder market, migration and the eco- to become director of nomy – in short, on topics that research in 1984 and finally were considered to be rele- Director-General in 1991. vant to issues addressed in the debate. He is also very much com- mitted to international statis- Far from being reproached for tical work and has been interfering in the political President of the Conference debate, Statistics Norway of European Statisticians even received positive reac- since 1999. tions to this initiative, which was welcomed as providing useful and impartial informa- a user demand with less weight eral public is crucial but not suf- in order to use this tool more tion. “We should not leave this and not so clearly pronounced ficient. Starting by giving the effectively. “Systematic user ori- field to more-or-less serious will not be covered. world of education and non- entation, including direct con- survey takers that might create governmental organisations sultation with user groups and confusion and frustration Tighter public budgets will tend better access to statistical data, broad user surveys should be amongst the public”, Longva to increase this bias giving pri- the ESS should strive to build up an essential activity of any sta- argues. ority to public demands – or closer relationships with these tistical system”, Mr Longva con- ministries that pay. Despite groups.” cludes. Statistics people budget cuts, demand from pub- can digest lic bodies for statistics might be A statistical council that inclu- ‘Feeding’ the public increasing and these bodies des representatives of data debate What’s more, a broader user will only pay for what they see providers, NGOs and the orientation will also affect the as their immediate require- media, in addition to represen- As a means of raising partici- profile of the statistical output ments. “It is thus important to tatives from the government sec- pation and a possibility for and the manner in which sta- focus on the balance of priori- tor, are in Mr Longva’s view a official statistics to become rel- tistical information is present- ties between statistics oriented valuable tool for systematically evant in the public debate, Mr ed. Svein Longva elucidates: towards ‘governance’ and sta- involving these partners in the Longva suggests adjusting the “The orientation towards a tistics with a wider audience”, discussion of priorities and pro- publication programme to broad user group starts by Mr Longva claims. grammes. However, to improve major events, as Statistics understanding their general its effectiveness an exchange of Norway did in the pre-election ability to use traditional statis- The requirement of several NSIs experiences would be needed campaigns in 1999 and tical tables. Reaching a broad to complement their Govern- audience requires processing ment-financed budget by proj- pure numbers to a larger ect financing will certainly degree. Thus, we might have improve user orientation but A more adapted to proceed in the direction of carries the risk of misuse and and flexible method analysis and to transform may finally jeopardise general ‘pure’ statistics to information confidence. It is therefore “It seems quite obvious to me that it is impossible to con- and understanding.” important that user-financed sta- tinue an identical, parallel development in all areas of sta- tistics is a fully integrated part of tistics in all member countries. It is too expensive and too This can be a sensitive issue official statistics. rigid. You simply cannot insist on getting exactly the same because the borderline type of information from, say, Germany and Luxembourg. between well-founded com- So what should be done con- ments and unfounded or cretely to widen the horizon of “Therefore, we will have to concentrate on singing from the biased assumptions is difficult official statistics in terms of user same hymn sheet when it comes to structural statistics, to draw. On the other hand, orientation? while in short-term statistics and other areas we should be statistical agencies are nor- more oriented towards giving a general picture of the devel- mally in the best position to “Making statistics available to opment across Europe, without necessarily going into provide valid comments. They the media as a vehicle for trans- details. Developing Europe-wide indicators is a logical con- have the fundamental knowl- mitting information to the gen- sequence of this reflection.” edge of underlying definitions, S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 15

collection methods and quality on their good will and coop- such feedback to data and to micro-data in particu- of the statistics that is neces- eration as respondents, the providers in the business sec- lar, represents for Svein sary to go into further analy- ESS also has an obligation tor. “Such tailor-made statisti- Longva a key element in this sis. For Longva, it is a duty to to contribute to a well-func- cal information entails specific respect. A European Data convey as much as possible of tioning market by providing preparation for each single Archive and safe setting this knowledge about data useful information as a basis data provider. But it doesn’t approaches are keywords in and metadata in a user-orient- for planning and decision- automatically represent a this context. (See the follow- ed form. “It helps to promote making. heavy additional workload for ing article in which Sabine relevant use and to avoid mis- the statistical system since it Bechtold and Sylvia Zühlke use of figures. One could surely not assert can be done in a standardised describe how this is being put that the ESS has not given manner.” into practice in Germany.) “Obviously, we are not clever enough emphasis to the busi- enough to put statistics togeth- ness sector. Just think of the Such feedback on relevant sta- Improving the relationship of er to form a comprehensive refrain, ‘decreasing the tistics would be a motivation the ESS with the research picture of society. In the future, response burden’, which fre- for data providers and would community along these lines being a good statistician will quently comes across in contribute to higher response should be accompanied by not suffice, we will also have strategic reflections of the rates and improved quality of improving training facilities to be good at disseminating ESS. However, there still the collected data and would and documentation to support statistics in a more digestible seems to be some space for be advantageous for both par- high quality research across form that makes it more acces- improvement. ties, Mr Longva expects. the EU. sible to everybody. Svein Longva advocates in this Getting closer to the “The settings for the ESS are “Simplifying is a complicated context more specific and scientific world rather positive”, Mr Longva business, more complicated in detailed statistics targeted at concludes. “Take the CEIES fact than digging down into the business sector to be dis- Finally, the way in which the as a body representing differ- statistical details. We must be seminated to enterprises. Such ESS is perceived and accept- ent user groups and data careful that these simple indi- statistics could comprise data ed as professional will depend providers, which has played cators and figures are put into for market analysis such as largely on the competences and can play a central role in the correct context and frame- data on persons and house- and capacities of the NSIs pointing to the needs of civil work, and avoid too simplistic holds on a detailed geograph- and Eurostat in social and society. We should strive to usage and interpretations. ical level, which can be used economic research. Mr make better use of it and per- This also means that we in the customer’s own GIS sys- Longva adds that without a haps seek liaison with other should cooperate more with tem, and data on smaller minimum of this competence, existing forums such as the journalists, social scientists groups of businesses for the statistical system will have Network on European infor- and other professionals. benchmarking. difficulties in maintaining its mation and training for non- possibility to adapt to new profit organisations. “Developing our analytical “Enterprises are interested in requirements and be an active skills and capacities is of comparing themselves with partner in relation to new “Governance goes far utmost importance when it their competitors, or in bench- research. beyond policy-making. We comes to rising to the chal- marking as one would say must not forget that in the lenge of extracting and dis- nowadays”, Longva explains. Providing the research com- end it is the public at large – seminating digestible informa- Statistics Norway started munity with better access to the society as a whole who is tion. Giving ‘value-added’ to some time ago with giving official statistics in general, our boss.” ■ the numbers we produce with- out compromising integrity and quality is on top of the Giving something back agenda in the years to come.” Company Motivating measures such as providing Incentives for the respondents with a tailor-made comparison of business sector the respondent’s own data with the average of their branch could positively affect response “The business sector has pre- rates, the quality of response and, last but not viously often been consid- Aluminium least, the way statistics is perceived. ered more as data providers sector The above example shows CO2 emissions per than as users, with a focus on produced unit of aluminium (kg/t) for a relieving the response bur- company X compared with the national den”, Longva observes. But 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 sector average. apart from being dependent 2000 1999 The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 16

Official statistics must be more open and provide scientific research with more Research data centres data. This is the call that has gone out to the statistical offices and the European get green light Statistical System. In Germany, the Federal Statistical Office and the Land statisti- The German statistical system cal offices have taken more than a step in the right direction by setting up met this request when the research data centres. SABINE BECHTOLD and SYLVIA ZÜHLKE explain Federal Statistical Office set Germany’s experience. up a Research Data Centre (RDC) in 2001 and the statis- tical offices of the Länder set up a joint RDC in 2002. Researchers, Although mutually independ- ent, these two centres will be coordinating their work very come in, please closely in order to provide scientific researchers with improved access to their he complex nature of eco- data. Tnomic and social change and the progress made in sci- The RDC for the statistical ence and information technol- offices of the Länder is being ogy have drastically trans- run on an associative basis, formed the data needs of mod- each office forming a region- ern society. The data needed al site. It is headed by a to analyse and shape the mod- steering committee, whilst ern world must yield informa- administration and coordina- tion on subsets of society and tion is the responsibility of a permit analyses of economic unit set up within the North and social change on the Rhine-Westphalia Office for basis of longitudinal data. Data Processing and Statistics. This is the official The publication of results in contact for the RDC and is the form of tables, which thus authorised to disclose always involves compromises binding information about to accommodate different the data and services it pro- uses, is no longer enough. vides. What fits much more with requirements in terms of In Germany, the majority of methodology and contents is surveys are carried out on a to make statistics available as decentralised basis by the standardised Scientific Use Land offices, which there- Files (SUF) and Public Use fore hold the bulk of the Files (PUF), and to provide resultant statistics. Before access to microdata which scientific researchers can be have not been rendered provided with improved anonymous and which can be Statisticians can help society by placing statistics at the service of science access to data, the Land used to carry out analyses that offices must first set up an are more detailed than tabular infrastructure for centralising data allow. ment of the information infra- ing programs, plans to update the storage of data. This will structure set up by the basic and advanced training allow official data to be “More access to Government came up with in the statistical field and vari- accessed centrally from the microdata”, scientists say suggestions on how to ous options concerning access various regional sites of the improve the interaction by scientific researchers to the RDCs. In addition to this, an Over the past few years in between scientific research microdata produced by public information system will be Germany, there has been a and statistics. data producers. One of the set up to provide compre- keen debate about access to Commission’s central recom- hensive information about official microdata for the pur- Suggestions included the mendations was to set up a official statistics and the var- poses of scientific research. A involvement of data users in data producers’ research data ious ways in which they can Commission for the improve- setting up survey and process- centre as soon as possible. be used. S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 17

‘Scientific Use Files’ – Sabine Bechtold (46) with RDC for the Länder. Under A survey among users car- no mean feat a PhD in economics, set the this scheme, researchers may ried out in summer 2002 ball rolling for the FSO’s work with anonymised micro- revealed a keen interest of From the scientific research Data Centre. This was her data that cannot be trans- scientific circles in research point of view, the ideal situa- last project before parting ferred as SUFs for use out- data centres. Roughly 600 of tion is one in which as many company with the Institute side the statistical offices, the 700 scientists surveyed data sets as possible have for Research and since the automatic input of indicated that they regularly ‘Scientific Use Files’. In the Development in Official additional information must use microdata for their work. field of household and per- Statistics after 12 years and be prevented if the factual The results of the survey also sonal surveys, data sets joining the population sta- anonymity criterion is to be indicated that the need of the which have been rendered tistics division of the FSO complied with. users is manifold. This means anonymous and which can in October 2002. that research data centres only be de-anonymised by Visiting researchers can also will have to offer a broad expending a disproportion- Sylvia Zühlke (33) with a work on research projects range of data from various ate amount of time and ener- PhD in political science, involving contractually agreed fields in order to fulfil this gy, have existed for a num- has been with the North cooperation between one or demand. ber of years now. Rhine-Westphalia Office for more of the statistical offices, Data Processing and on the one hand, and outside Over the next few years, one In the case of individual Statistics for three years and experts, on the other. For important field of work will econometric data, however, is involved chiefly with these, access can be given to be the transposal of the EC this highly user-friendly sys- household surveys and the individual data that have directive regulating access to tem of data access via SUFs analysis of longitudinal been formally anonymised confidential data for re- cannot yet be used, as there data. Over the past year, she only. search purposes, the aim is still no way of ensuring has played a key role in set- being to join forces with viable factual anonymisation ting up the Land RDC. However, this is an option Eurostat to devise rules and without compromising – per- only if the analysis is an offi- procedures – with the full haps seriously – the informa- cial statistical project for backing of Member States – tion content and thus the which are to be used to which outside help must be that will benefit scientific analysis potential. investigate topics that cannot brought in, owing to a lack research. be researched using existing of capacity or of know-how. As enterprise statistics are SUFs, owing to anonymisa- The results of such analyses Given that the ESS is in the generally completely different tion work already undertak- are the property of official midst of reflecting about how from household and personal en, both RDCs offer the statistics and are checked for to build bridges with the sci- data in terms of characteris- option of controlled remote confidentiality prior to publi- entific community, these ini- tics, other anonymisation data processing. cation. However, the resear- tiatives are definitely steps in measures steps must be taken chers involved also have user the right direction. In short, for this type of data. To make This means that experts rights. we believe that statisticians headway in this field, official write their analysis pro- can help society by placing statistical bodies in Germany grams at their workstations Confidentiality and … statistics at the service of sci- have joined forces with the using a standard software ence and tomorrow’s techno- Institute for Applied Economic program and then send them In addition to their work logical developments. ■ Research (IAW) in Tübingen to the research data centres. relating directly to improving on a research project entitled There, the programs are the use by scientific “Factual anonymisation of applied to the original, non- researchers of the microdata individual data on enterprises anonymised, data and the produced by official statisti- Contact details: and businesses“, the objective findings then checked for cal bodies, the two research being to investigate the possi- statistical confidentiality data centres will also be Forschungsdatenzentrum bilities of rendering individual before being transmitted to addressing basic questions des Statistischen Bundesamtes: econometric data factually the researcher. of data access. These Dr Manfred Ehling and Markus Zwick, anonymous and – if possible – include, for instance, the Tel: +49 (0) 611 75-2903 or -4220, find a way of using SUFs for Visiting researcher question of statistical confi- E-mail: [email protected] enterprise data too in the future. scheme dentiality in the face of an Forschungsdatenzentrum ever-increasing volume of der Statistischen Ämter der Länder: Controlled remote In addition, a ‘visiting readily available additional Helmut Eppmann and Dr Sylvia Zühlke, data processing researcher’ scheme is being information, and the expan- Tel: +49 (0) 211 9449-2637 or -2547, operated at both the FSO sion of cooperative links with E-mail: [email protected] In the case of data which are research data centre and at other national and interna- and [email protected] not available as SUFs, or all regional offices of the tional research data centres. The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 18

Based on how Europe’s citizens perceive statistics, JOACHIM LAMEL of the cy measures or any other CEIES* develops the concept of a pact between the European Statistical System purpose at all levels of socie- and citizens. Rather than being regarded as a Government tool, the ESS, must ty – and this is true of nation- al statistics and European- turn into an instrument for use by the people of Europe and have the interests of level statistics alike. Provid- all users in mind. ing relevant and high-quality statistical data is not possible without the understanding and the cooperation of the Citizens first public. Following this analysis, Mr Lamel infers: “Making this The many jokes and sar- function of statistics clear to castic remarks made about the general public is one of statisticians, statistics and the major tasks facing us. the use of statistics are The strategic objective for obviously misplaced. But the further development of why is it that politicians the ESS must be to turn it only want to believe the into an instrument for the cit- statistics that they them- izens of Europe, who must selves have falsified – as be put in a position to use it no less than Winston as a source for the informa- Churchill is alleged to tion they need on the state have said? of society and for keeping track of policies.” This Why do many people would also contribute to think that statistics is the greater involvement of people highest form of lying and in EU policy – a principle set nod approvingly when out in the White Paper on people say that you can European Governance. use statistics to prove any- thing – even the opposite? “Users’ interests – users in its Why are statistics as a widest sense, meaning the rule held responsible for citizens of Europe and the the incorrect use of correct institutions of an organised statistical information, and civil society, such as busi- not the person who – nesses, trade unions, employ- knowingly or unknowingly ers and employees, the – used it incorrectly? Why media, educational and do statistics tend to have a research establishments – dubious reputation – in so who up until now seem to get far as the public thinks the shorter end of the stick – about them at all? must take pride of place in the system as it develops in oachim Lamel provides of wielding power, and to a certain alienation of citi- future.” Jan answer to these ques- respondents complain about zens with respect to statistics, tions: “Over the centuries, the trouble they are put to, in general, and European To this end, Mr Lamel claims statistics always appeared in often without knowing why.” statistics, in particular. to take as many users as pos- the guise of an instrument sible explicitly into account used by the administrative For Community statistics, the Winning the public’s trust and to get non-governance authorities, and its results as situation is even more com- users involved in the plan- secret knowledge, which plex. “On the one hand, the However, the production of ning and production of statis- made people become scepti- EU is felt to be aloof, while statistics is an important ele- tics at an early stage. This, cal about ‘official’ statistics – on the other, it is thought to ment in the infrastructure of he expects, would automati- a legacy that continues be excessively dominating any modern democratic socie- cally lead to an increased today. Many people still in several areas”, says Mr ty, be it for policy-decisions, relevance of what is being regard statistics as a means Lamel. All this seems to lead monitoring and assessing poli- produced. S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 19

“Improving the European Joachim Lamel was until of costs of statistics is clear available and making them public’s general attitude to recently Executive Secretary and derives from the EU’s ‘sta- understand that statistics is a statistics will be no easy of the industry section of tistical law’1, which states that precondition for making better task”, he admits. Although the Austrian Federal “dissemination shall be car- and more targeted policy. This many measures such as the Economic Chamber and is ried out in such a way that might sound simple, but we setting up of Data Shops Vice-Chairman of the access to Community statistics have to put it into practice and and the websites as access European Advisory is rendered simple and impar- prove the usefulness concrete- points have already been Committee on Statistical tial throughout the Communi- ly for all statistical projects. taken, a great deal remains Information in the ty“, and from the CEIES’s to be done. In this context, Economic and Social understanding of statistics, as “But above all, it should be he would welcome a com- Spheres (CEIES). a public good. Basic data the strategic objective of the mon ESS portal as a single should therefore, according to ESS to create a win-win situa- access point, “which would The CEIES is a key player the CEIES, be available free of tion, in which both parts ben- certainly help to facilitate*in mediating between statis- charge. efit. The citizens of Europe the search for ESS data. tical producers and users at will provide the statistical the European level. Made But there is another aspect of system with the data and “Another important measure up of representatives of costs, which is essential to the information that only they should be aimed at intensive industry, employees, sci- question of usefulness of statis- possess and that cannot be users and try to integrate them ence, the media and con- tics and when it comes to obtained from other sources. more closely into the statistical sumers, the CEIES is the explaining the role of statistics network. Intensive users are mouthpiece for European in democratic societies: “Non- “The statistical system will, in also those who are most out- civil society, or non-gover- availability of statistics entails return, give the general pub- spoken on statistical matters nance users, to use the substantial costs for society lic access to all results, thus as well as being important expression coined by some that exceed by many times the enabling citizens to form a suppliers of data in many commentators. costs of obtaining the corre- picture of the current state of cases. sponding information”, Mr society. Statistics is not a As such, the CEIES regards Lamel explains. “The availabil- thing in its own right; it is “Every possibility for improv- itself as a counterweight to ity and quality of statistics for made for society. In a system ing the dialogue between the the government user level, the guidance of policy meas- in which both parties are ESS, the users and the respon- which in the perception of ures are particularly important aware of this relationship, dents must be exploited.” Mr Lamel determines large- for those members of the pub- statistics will surely be better ly how Community statis- lic at whom the measures are rooted in society. The earlier, the better tics are shaped. directed, but basically all European citizens are con- “The ESS’s ‘Unique Selling Making citizens familiar with cerned. Proposition’, as it would be statistics should, in Mr Lamel’s usefulness should be a direct called in business terms, or view, start at school: “The ear- result of the data and obvious. “An example might illustrate simply the relative advantage lier people learn about the the kind of amounts involved it has to offer compared to role of statistics in a modern “However, the critical point in without wanting to go into the other statistical information democratic society and how our attempts to establish statis- theory of financial policy: In providers on the market, con- to deal with it, the better. tics in the minds of the citizens 2000, private consumption in sists in the relevance, relia- Eliminating statistics from eco- as an instrument used by civil the euro-zone totalled 3 662 bility and comparability of nomic studies, as some society will be, making people billion euro. A 0.1% reduction the data it provides and in Member States have appar- realise the indirect benefits. in the inflation rate would the independence of its ently done, is definitely a step This is crucial to our achieve- therefore increase purchasing actors. Citizens should know in the wrong direction.” ment of a positive attitude to power in this economic area that ESS data help to lift the the ESS.” by 3.7 billion euro. However, fog, that the data are not one Part of the pact with citizens is the link between the statistics or another shade of colour for Mr Lamel to make the use- Let’s seal a pact required and the quality of and that they can rely on fulness of statistics clearer to with the public policy measures all too often them unconditionally. Our the European public than it goes unnoticed. strategy must be to further has been in the past. “Once Closely linked to this is the exploit this plus point and the user has found the statisti- question of direct and indirect “The ESS should therefore make the ESS a brand-name cal information he was search- costs. For users, the costs of endeavour to make a pact for these qualities.” ■ ing, and provided that they statistics consist above all of with the public”, Mr Lamel are supplemented by the nec- the costs of gaining access to concludes. “This entails mak- essary methodological expla- statistical information. The ing people aware of what it 1) Council Regulation (EC) No. nations and metadata, the position of the CEIES in terms would cost if statistics were not 322/97 of 17 February 1997. The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 20

JOHN MORLEY, of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Employment and Social Affairs, encourages European statisticians to address all – even the ‘touchy’ – questions. From the perspective of both policy and users, he comments on the concern that the ESS might be one-sided in its user focus. What about politicians’ numeracy skills ?!

efore reflecting on the Bfuture of the ESS and European statistics, let’s try to answer one question first: whom does the ESS serve? Several views seem to imply that there has been too much focus on the needs of the Commission, rather than on those of the general public, national governments, the regions, or analysts.

If that were true, it would obvi- ously have quite serious impli- cations for political and eco- nomic governance and demo- cracy. And it would be an obstacle to our statistical serv- ices contributing to the task of "We need to help politicians become more numerate and make greater use of EU-wide data and comparisons." making Europe more tangible to our populations. ingly benchmark their perform- sion, health, education and parisons, however. Rather, it Barking up ance against others – whether training – we now have gov- has led to pressure for much the wrong tree in economic and social fields ernments actively engaged in better, more comparable, EU- or beyond. pursuing common policy goals wide statistics so that govern- In my view, however, it is a mis- at EU level, through the rather ments and others can meas- reading of the situation. The And both the main European oddly described ‘open method ure progress against their European Commission may be social partner federations – the of coordination’. peers. taking the lead in pressing the ETUC (European Trade Union case for comparable EU-wide Confederation) and UNICE The crucial political character- Comparable data, please data, but this is largely on (Union of Industrial and istic of this ‘method’ is that, behalf of others – national gov- Employers’ Confederations of while individual governments Policy-makers and public alike ernments, social partners, and Europe) – now issue their own work towards commonly ask similar questions – about NGOs (non-governmental benchmarking reports with defined goals – on employ- economic growth, living stan- organisations). national, and sometimes ment, social protection, or dards, employment and unem- regional, comparisons. health – they are free to ployment, health, equality, The reality is that, since the decide how to achieve them. poverty. And in most cases, changes brought by the Across the social field – encom- people want to know how Amsterdam Treaty and EMU, passing employment, income, Such freedom of choice does their country or region com- national governments increas- social protection, social inclu- not remove the need for com- pares with others. S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 21

Likewise, analysts want to look John Morley, aged 62 and there is no ‘official’ data com- The ECB has certainly helped at causes and consequences. an economist by back- paring holidays actually taken shake things up, and Where cross-country compar- ground, has been working in the EU compared with the mobilised support for better isons can provide valuable closely with statisticians for US. Given the continual argu- short-term data. insights, especially when time- more than 30 years, firstly ments about the comparative series data are limited. in the UK, then at the merits of the EU versus the US However, there is equally a European Commission, socio-economic models, this need for more structural data In all this, the notion that there where he dealt with seems a serious oversight on – on issues like productivity is value in retaining national employment issues and the our part. and the measurement of cap- or regional statistics which are development of the labour ital stock. And particularly on technically superior to those force survey, before becom- Nothing is too difficult the economic and employ- available elsewhere, but ing more involved in other ment structures within the dif- which are not easily compara- areas of social and econom- I would like to address one ferent sectors grouped under ble, has little public appeal. ic policy. He is now Adviser more basic question – whether the label of services. to the Director-General at we are moving fast enough in Indeed, a lack of comparabili- the Commission’s adapting the supply of data to Getting to look ty is an enormous source of Directorate-General for our changing economic and like Uncle Sam frustration and irritation for Employment and Social social needs. most people. On the whole, Affairs. Turning to comparisons with the public trust statisticians I can see two clear schools the United States, I fully more than they do politicians. of thought here. One would recognise that the EU is not And they feel that they are lighted some shortcomings – have been well represented the US in political terms. But being duped if they cannot notably in terms of measuring by one of the UK’s past it is its equivalent in econom- easily compare! skills and abilities. Chief Statisticians, Roger ic terms – size of GDP, trade Thatcher (no relation!), who with the rest of the world, Let me illustrate this with exam- The evidence of a strong rela- put tasks into different cate- and possibly the degree of ples: one showing the value of tionship between a com- gories. And one of them was integration between regions. comparative European data, pressed income distribution called the ‘too difficult’ cate- And the EU and US are one showing where a more and a high average level of lit- gory, where he would have becoming increasingly simi- common European approach eracy has significant policy put this question. lar in terms of economic man- is needed and one showing a implications in terms of educa- agement – a single market surprising gap in European tion investment and social On the other hand, I find for all, and a single currency data. transfers. Yet, not all EU coun- myself continually perplexed for most countries in our tries participate in the literacy that we know so much more case. The employment data provide assessment. about what goes on in the an example of good practice. agricultural sector – which There can, in my view, only At the Lisbon European What about holidays? employs 4% of our popula- be one sensible long-term Council in spring 2000, the tions – than we do about the outcome – which is an inte- EU Member States set quanti- My third example concerns various branches of the serv- grated EU-wide ESS, able to tative employment targets for holidays – a subject dear to ice sector which, together, deliver data to the EU public, the EU in terms of the employ- the hearts of Europeans, but generate two-thirds of our and the world at large, in the ment rate. This was a major where, surprisingly, we have GDP, and provide even more same way the US is currently political step forward – in little comparable data. of our employment. able to do. terms of both, setting targets and moving away from com- As it happens, I was approa- Users recognise that an awful Data have a great deal of parisons based on less reli- ched last summer by an lot has been done to improve political potential. My only able unemployment data. American researcher who data availability on a variety surprise is that so little top wanted to publish a paper crit- of new issues – such as child level political use has been Interest in these results, and icising the lack of basic US care, social inclusion, the made of it so far in the EU the desire to extend this legislation on holiday leave, knowledge society, quality of compared with, say, the US. approach to other policy and who was looking for work and so on. With the Maybe one of the key tasks fields, has encouraged rapid data. gender dimension treated for the future should be to progress in developing house- much more systematically encourage more EU politi- hold panel data. This has While it was easy to demon- these days. But that is not a cians to become more meant considerable progress strate the superior legal rights reason to hold back from a numerate and make greater in some areas, not least in in the EU compared with the more fundamental review use of EU-wide data and terms of the distribution of US, it was much more difficult across the whole economic- comparisons. Let’s help them incomes, but it has also high- to compare the realities since social field. do that. ■ The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 22

Tomorrow’s ESS needs a sturdier institutional status if it is to be recognised as the independent statistical authority of Europe. This is the main conclusion of RUUD VAN NOORT, Director-General of Statistics Netherlands, who analyses the ESS in terms of an ‘authority’ enjoying professionalism, independence and impartiality, as well as a sufficient budget. Sigma asked him to share his vision with us. All together now for a statistical authority

f I stand back and look at the IESS’ performance, I see a mixed picture. Generally speaking, the ESS is well respected as a data producer for EU policies, with its statis- tics being used heavily by the Directorates-General of the Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Council.

However, the ESS is not exact- ly ‘in the picture’ when the pol- icy-makers discuss and decide about the relevance and qual- ity of statistics needed to for- mulate, monitor and assess policy objectives.

This is especially the case in the field of open coordination (The Lisbon Process) and sub- sequent demands from Councils, which have been Ruud van Noort (59) has been at the steering wheel of Statistics Netherlands since September constantly growing in recent 1999. Since then, he has earned an international reputation for himself. Before taking up his years. Each Council – Ecofin, post at Statistics Netherlands, Ruud van Noort had been director-general of the National Social or Environment Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) of the Netherlands. Councils – defines its own list of structural indicators without consulting the ESS. Neither receiving ‘orders’ to produce advice, even on one’s own ini- The ESS (Eurostat and the Eurostat nor the ESS as such statistical data. tiative. Whenever a new poli- NSIs competent in the respec- are asked to give their profes- cy area is on the table for tive area) needs to set in train sional advice on the relevance Dialogue with policy development, either by the an immediate dialogue with or quality of an indicator. In Commission or Council, the policy-makers about the statis- the absence of a structure, in This just-do-it philosophy is not ESS should give advice on the tical component of the policy which the ESS is consulted a health state of affairs. Being statistical consequences and area in question. Involving the and asked for its professional professional is also about options for a sound statistical ESS (through the Statistical opinion, it finds itself merely being pro-active and giving basis. Programme Committee, SPC*) S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 23

in the dialogue with the users Statistics. The most important With a view to independence, ronmental field or public very early on helps to avoid task of such a group would be any formal decision on health not work in statistics? unrealistic expectations. to serve as the interface methodology and concepts Thematic centres pool together between the Directorates- should be left to comitology their efforts and concentrate A statistical protocol General of the Commission, procedures. work on a specific topic, for the ESS? as main users, and the ESS. It which allows faster progress would be part of a more Very much related to this issue to be made than everybody Without undermining the proactive involvement of the is the authority for the publica- working on their own. importance of Article 285 of ESS in the translation of policy tion of statistical results. Any the Treaty, the ‘statistical law’ needs into a concrete statisti- appearance that political serv- Within the ESS, several NSIs and its accompanying Com- cal programme without invent- ices have a say in when and that are strong in a specific mission Decision, I would like ing the wheel all over again. how statistical results are area could come together and to see the institutional position The definition of the required released must be avoided. make everybody share the of the ESS and SPC be beefed indicators should not be left to Users and the public must be fruits of their work. In this win- up. Without a strong institu- the users alone, but made by able to rely on the impartiality win situation, everybody tional foothold, the ESS runs both users and statisticians. of the statistical authority. could make full use of their the risk of being ignored by strengths and share the devel- other, more firmly rooted, insti- The most important question Making better use of opments within the ESS, while tutions. for such a group would be: available knowledge having more time to get on ‘How can the needs be treat- with their day-to-day business. So, what could be a possible ed in the most effective way?’ But the independence of the way forward? The status of This could be profitable for all ESS is not only shown in the Speed up for Europe our statistical partner, the parts – for the society at large fact of being responsible for European Central Bank, could because we could limit the concepts and methodology, or A rather weak point of the ESS show us the way. The Protocol response burden by verifying in its status being legally has been, and still is, the deliv- to the Treaty of Maastricht, the what is already available, for enshrined, it also materialises ery of timely results. Official ECB and the European System the NSIs because we could try in a professional attitude, statistics are published long of Central Banks (ESCB), and avoid costly and time-con- where the ESS shows its com- after the reference period. defines the tasks of the ECB; it suming new enquiries and, petence as a high profile cen- Users, both at the national was given the power to launch finally, for the users, because tre of knowledge. and international levels, fail to legislation in so far this is we could deliver timely results. understand why the produc- deemed necessary for the exe- It goes without saying that the tion of reliable statistical cution of its tasks. Independent in its actions ESS must work much harder results takes so long. towards achieving the status The same model could be But independence, which of such a high profile centre of And yet, if we look at the deci- used for the ESS. Such a pro- would be locked in by a knowledge. Both Eurostat and sion-making process for new tocol could not only govern Statistical Protocol, is first and most NSIs suffer from insuffi- legislative acts, we can still how statistical legislation is foremost demonstrated by the cient resources to cope with see that quite a lot of countries passed, it could moreover way the ESS acts. It is a sine all the new requirements they ask for longer delays before secure a much stronger posi- qua non that statistical output are increasingly faced with, at transmitting the results to tion for the SPC: no decision is not influenced by political both EU and national levels. Eurostat. From a statistical would be made about statis- interference in definitions, point of view, the reasons for tics or statistical indicators methods and concepts. The way we work together in requesting such derogations without consulting the SPC. the ESS hitherto is not based are quite understandable. To what extent is this case for on integrating statistical sys- Injecting the ESS with a strong the ESS? In some areas the tems or a structural exchange But we have to remember that institutional status means put- definitions, for example, for of expertise and knowledge. there is the risk of users ting its independence down in unemployment, are decided In the future ESS, we should resorting to other, non-official black and white in legal terms. through comitology where the seek to solve problems by tap- sources, for data available in This can have an important SPC as the statistical authority ping more national knowl- the shorter term. psychological effect and can is responsible. In other areas, edge and experience. If the contribute to an increased the Council and the European angle of work were to shift One of the main goals of the credibility. Parliament decide on the and focus more on such an ESS should be, therefore, to methodology and concepts in objective, much more could meet the timeliness and other In the short term, we could try framework regulations and be done with fewer resources. quality criteria laid down in and strengthen the position of are thus subject to procedures, * The SPC, in which all heads of EU statistics by a permanent which leave more room for Why shouldn’t what works NSIs are represented, is the decision- Council Working Group on political views or preferences. perfectly in research, the envi- making body at the ESS-level. The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 24

all legal acts and gentlemen’s The financial backbone agreements. “Ten commandments” None of the characteristics of The problems in terms of time- a professional statistical Ten commandments especially designed for the ESS should help to liness at present in EU statistics authority can be met without bring about a change: hamper Eurostat in its compi- sufficient funds. This is just as lation of EUR12 and EU15 true at the European as at the 1. The ESS has to demonstrate its professionalism by totals. With the future enlarge- national level. New demands becoming pro-active and giving statistical advice for all ment of the EU, these prob- need to be accompanied by new policy areas. lems will only multiply. It is, proposals of how it could be therefore, vital to explore the financed – either by appropri- 2. The ESS needs to set up a dialogue with users about new means for compiling EU/EMU ating money to it or by nam- data requirements at the earliest possible stage. totals even if not all member ing those statistical require- states deliver their results on ments that have proven to be 3. The institutional positions of the ESS and SPC need to be time. obsolete and can be trimmed strengthened, ie. by aiming at a Statistical Protocol in the down. Treaty. Of course, it remains the responsibility of each individ- The current system of financ- 4. The ESS should aim at a permanent Council Working ual country to decide whether ing, in which large parts are Group in the field of statistics. it will meet the same timeli- directly financed by the ness of results for national respective Directorate-Gene- 5. The ESS strategy needs to make very clear the need for a data. ral, does not allow Eurostat sound financial basis for the statistical system. or the SPC to set the priorities For the Netherlands, the in those parts of the pro- 6. Recruitment procedures should be changed so that main principle will be to dis- gramme topping the agenda. Eurostat can recruit permanent staff with statistical seminate national results with Take the statistical require- expertise more flexibly. the same timeliness as ments for EMU. Although EU/EMU results. Neverthe- EMU statistics were consid- 7. Decision-making on statistical methodology and concepts less, Statistics Netherlands is ered to have the highest pri- should be kept in the hands of the ESS, ie. through comi- exploring the possibility for ority both from the national tology procedures. sending preliminary data to and the EMU perspective, the Eurostat for the compilation budget was inadequate. On 8. The ESS should aim to obtain the status of a high pro- of EU/EMU totals, even the other hand, money was file centre of knowledge and expertise in the field of when the data are not con- available in areas that were statistics. sidered sound enough for considered to be less policy dissemination at the national relevant. 9. Exchange of expertise and knowledge within the ESS level. should be organised in a more systematic way. A core programme of statis- On the other hand, the ESS tics should therefore be cen- 10. Strategic planning is to be included in the agendas of the has shown that it can provide trally financed rather than Partnership Group and the SPC on a regular basis. an adequate answer to users’ directly by interested users. demands, such as through This would not only introduce the work of the EU/USA a constant element in the Achieving these goals will the Council’s various forma- Benchmarking Task Force financing process but it require a lot of effort and tions and their Committees, and the subsequent Friends would, above all, allow for won’t happen overnight. the European Parliament, of the Chair group on re-allocating means to priori- Some parameters such as the national authorities, and the improving short-term eco- ty domains. political climate may even be media. We need to pinpoint nomic statistics. beyond our power. what we want to achieve with Getting started each relevant party before we These groups, like the But this should not leave us then agree on which actions Leadership Groups (LEGS), I’m not asking for a lot of feeling powerless. There are are to be taken and by whom. prove that teamwork by extra money from the possibilities and actions we Eurostat and NSIs is much Commission – I am simply can focus on, such as better These issues should be more productive. Working pleading for combining the strategic planning, concen- placed frequently on our along these lines, as a strong discussion on additional trating on all ‘players’ agendas, because honesty integrated network, is, in my requirements with that on involved – the Directorates- compels us to admit that the opinion, the best – and only budgeting, because they are General of the Commission, statistical system is all too – way forward. clearly related. the Commissioners, the ECB, often ignored. ■ S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 25

DANIEL BYK, Eurostat Director in charge of dissemination, takes a closer look at tion of European data in prod- how the dissemination function contributes to the ESS’ image, and argues that it is ucts compiled nationally within part and parcel of the statistical process that ‘creates’ an identity, which can only the ESS is more and more common, as is the distribution be seen and assessed via the same function. of Eurostat news releases by the press offices of some NSIs.

With the development of the Showcasing Euro-Indicators database and the respective website, the ESS has responded to the need of short-term indicators for eco- ‘Statistics Europe’ nomic analysis. And there is one facility, which teaches us or users in the know, for the valuable lessons about users’ F‘data literate’ and the gener- needs, the Data Shop network. al public, European statistics well and truly exist. There is a grow- Datashopping … ing demand for and on statistics, and they pop up more and more The Data Shops provide an in the media. Open a newspa- information service to the users per, or turn the TV or radio on, of European statistics who are and they are there, with decimal mainly outside big government points and percentages, aver- departments or institutions. To ages, year-on-year comparisons give an idea of the numbers and so on. involved, we currently deal with about 45 000 requests a When the ECB takes a critical year and have about 120 000 look at the information available users on our records. Total net- for managing European mone- work sales have virtually dou- tary policy, and when Reuters bled in four years. Most of the publishes an annual compara- Data Shops are run by the tive analysis of Europe and the NSIs, which thus supply the USA in terms of socio-economic necessary staff. indicators, the whole European statistical set-up comes into the Talks are now in progress with spotlight and is seen as falling the OECD so that it can also short. disseminate statistical data from us. The increasingly specific and well-researched questions posed … for quality by journalists are an indication that ESS data are regularly con- Just as for the production of sta- sulted and that people also tistics, certain quality criteria grasp the system behind it. More also apply when it comes to than that, ‘experienced’ users dissemination. understand our respective roles. image and identity of the ESS. tion sets the conditions for this They naturally expect different In other words, the dissemina- assessment. But what is the sit- Adapted to the nature of dis- services from Eurostat and the tion of ESS statistics provides uation of common dissemina- semination, such criteria could NSIs or other parts of the ESS, the system’s very image and tion concretely? be the relevance in responding but they can see the connection indeed identity. to requests, the exhaustiveness between what Eurostat can dis- Joint projects for disseminating of the answers, the freshness of seminate and the roles and/or The business of ESS figures have been started data provided, adequate pres- responsibilities of other parts of information brokering in a number of areas. We have entation and explanation for the ESS. worked together to develop a users, correct pricing, the What is judged, assessed and set of statistical dissemination speed in responding to The comments that are prompt- evaluated is the statistical pro- products such as Europroms for requests and a personalised ed gradually build up the duction of the ESS. Dissemina- industrial products. Incorpora- follow-up. The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 26

The large majority of the 16 whether access to the data Other questions concern user The same logic must apply Data Shops have, in fact, should be payable or free of friendly-navigation. A common when disseminating statistics. signed a quality charter and charge (there was consider- portal would require the meta- Some basic information must have committed themselves to able national pressure for information to be offered in all certainly be free of charge these criteria, adherence to upping the charges). the languages of the ESS and while the large part of services which is continuously moni- correspondence between each and products must be targeted tored and facilitated by ◗ Paradoxically, it can be seen possible language combina- and focus on the expectations Eurostat. One interesting find- that after a downturn in rev- tion. To this can be added the of diverse user categories. ing of this exercise has been enue from regular sales design of a powerful search Such services carry, of course, that users do, in general, not (products and services) as a engine to enable non-specialist a certain price tag. complain about the price but result of the increased avail- users who do not necessarily about the freshness of the data ability of free data, the master the statistical terminolo- We should also fulfil the and about the relevance and demand for tailor-made serv- gy to search successfully. demand for services with value service offered. ices grows. added. This ranges from giving One thing to remember is that users access to know-how and Role of the Internet ◗ The effect on traditional we are not starting from zero, metadata to providing the products (printed or electron- but that we have to reinforce results on the medium selected No strategic reflection can seri- ic publications) is consider- our strategic discussion and put by users and to a tailor-made ously be made without consid- able, with a slump in sales of it into practice. and personalised treatment of ering the Internet with its obvi- bestsellers. demands. ous success. Let me try and dis- ‘As well as’ instead of cern some trends: We should use the Internet for ‘either / or’ The work of dissemination thus one of our next concrete proj- becomes a kind of brokerage, ◗ Websites can pursue differ- ects and raise the image and But going beyond several joint providing service beyond the ent aims: publicity for the visibility of the ESS by setting projects for common dissemi- products on offer. institute and its products and up a common platform. This nation in a wider sense neces- services or access to all or would facilitate the access to sitates reaching an agreement Lessons to be drawn some of the data (with some ESS data and at the same time on some basic questions. blurring of the aims). enable the user to grasp the Instead of continuing to discuss The experience with the Data ESS as an entity rather than as blanketly about whether data Shops and with the Internet ◗ There is a trend currently for fragments. should be payable or free of lead to some more general access to be free of charge charge, we should start talking findings that may help and to what is termed database Branding the ESS about in which cases. show us the way towards an or general information. intensified discussion on a com- The concept of such a common One does not rule out the other. mon ESS dissemination policy. ◗ There is strong pressure from portal is fairly unproblematic; it Again, looking at Internet Internet users to get properly is the implementation that poses trends I see the tendency mov- Our identity and image rest, in documented information. If it difficulties. The simplest version ing from ‘everything free’ to a particular, on the dissemination is not properly documented, of such a platform would be to mixed approach taking better of the data produced by the the burden on site operators unite all parts of the ESS under account of the heterogeneity of ESS. Dissemination showcases (webmasters and so on) a common address and head- needs. the quality of all our work. increases with the success of ing. Such a common ‘Statistics Care and concern for quality the site. Europe’ site would, in addition ‘One size won’t fit all’ is a con- are thus vital. to giving a general presenta- stant refrain, but we should ◗ Navigation among ESS sites tion, redirect the user to the dif- draw the conclusions of this The success stories in statistical – easy if links exist – makes ferent parts of the ESS. knowledge. Before you reno- dissemination, whether at comparisons easy and sets vate your house, you will prob- national or Community level, up a kind of rivalry or imita- In a more sophisticated ver- ably weigh up a finished prod- involve targeted products or tion. sion, such a platform would uct against a do-it-yourself solu- services, which are tailor-made enable the user to access the tion. for a specific use or group of ◗ In this respect, the ESS has a different sources (NSIs, Euro- users. Universal products or pooled experience with its stat, etc.) around diverse statis- Even if you are a handyman, services are pie in the sky. Free Euro-Indicators site (http:// tical subjects. There are, of you will not always go for the Internet access to every data- europa.eu.int/comm/euro- course, technical questions that do-it-yourself approach. You base does not satisfy the needs stat/Public/datashop/print- need to be addressed such as will evaluate the costs and time of specialist groups. We need catalogue/EN?catalogue= whether to store the informa- needed and will opt for one or to go for approaches that are euroindicators), which prom- tion centrally or separately the other solution on a case-by- created in response to properly pted much discussion over according to the data source. case basis. identified needs. In this regard, S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 27

However, over time the focus has more and more shifted to the day-to-day management of con- crete projects. As a response, a reflection group on the future of statistical dissemination has been set up with the aim of look- ing at the questions involved, good practices, trends and pos- sible future scenarios.

This group, with its strategic role, has however not yet received the full backing of the NSIs, for sev- eral reasons. The mixed mem- bership hinders the dissemina- tion groups to play the part of a "… teaching lessons about users' needs – the Data Shop network." sectoral committee, unlike for example in social or business the world of education (sec- tions with a one-off cost. Without problems together and share statistics. ondary and higher education) good and easy to understand ideas about the future of dissem- undoubtedly represents an quality meta-information, the ination. ESS involvement in gen- Strategic reflection on dissemi- important target for coopera- back-up that is needed to cope uine strategic thinking about dis- nation takes place, but the strate- tion and concerted action with- with all the requests is hard to semination is a major challenge. gic vision is elaborated in each in the ESS. (Pedro Campos manage properly. Regular input Member State separately. A describes in the following article of relevant metadata is also very We need to strengthen the links large part of the people feeding how the INE Portugal approach- costly. between the dissemination of the debate at a country level is es this target.) national statistics and the dis- simply not taking part in the Joint action for semination of European statis- European working group. Right people for the job a common goal tics: by making it easier to navi- Therefore, messages on a joint gate and switch between nation- dissemination strategy for the Compilation and dissemination Dissemination of statistics within al and Community websites, by ESS have hitherto been confined of statistics are different jobs. the ESS has undergone a radical developing concerted approach- to lip service. We are not jacks-of-all-trades. mutation in the last decade. De- es to sectors that are poorly or We need to train people and/or mand has grown, and there is inadequately covered – educa- To this can be added that for work with specialists and profes- greater variety. But the changes tion, for instance – and by show- ‘soft activities’ such as communi- sionals. Our lack of success in around the corner are even ing in this way that the dissemi- cation, dissemination and mar- relation with the dominant medi- greater. nation of European statistics, like keting, there is less of an obvious um in society, television, also their compilation, is an integral obligation to cooperate than for points to this need to cooperate We are just experiencing the part of NSI activity. the ‘hard activities’, statistical with specialists whose skills differ start of the Internet and its effects. production. from ours. We are thinking about the future Strategic thought is needed of various statistical fields, about Dissemination is not a matter for In service activities, quality the problems that are emerging The ESS suffers from a deficit of legislation – we need pioneers depends on the quality of the in matters such as globalisation reflection and dialogue to make and forerunners. At least the people handling requests. The and the information society. But further progress in joint dissemi- large countries should be repres- degree of competence, training it is as though we were being nation. In other areas of Euro- ented in the working groups. But and concern for effectiveness swept along by the technologi- pean official statistics, the direc- since there is no immediate pres- are major factors in how users cal advances affecting dissemi- tors in charge meet regularly sure to cooperate in dissemina- view quality. Our shortcomings nation instead of making use of and elaborate a strategic vision tion, neither the means nor the in this area stem from choices, them. whereas the specialised groups time is dedicated to this issue. which all too often give these deal with the implementation jobs to people who are inade- It is not a case of harmonising and the day-to-day business. It takes time for everyone to quately qualified or who do not dissemination policies and come round to the conviction have the proper skill levels. measures and providing a neat In dissemination, a working that there is only one common set of rules and regulations, but party exists for consultation, way forward. But we should The Internet and free access for in addition to sharing good cooperation, dialogue and be mindful of the need to everyone are not miracle solu- practices, we need to tackle exchange of information. catch the moving train. ■ The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 28

Official statistics has targeted the world of education as fertile ground for public outreach. With this in mind, Portugal’s statistical office (INE) has designed a web- site – ALEA – facilitating statistical literacy for tomorrow’s users and budding stat- isticians. PEDRO CAMPOS, head of dissemination at INE’s Porto regional direc- torate, describes the aims, workings and first experiences with the site. Now, that’s edutainment et’s be frank. To understand funds through Portuguese ary school mathematics pro- tral tendency and probability Lthe written word, let alone operational programmes gramme on which all the sta- calculation are taught at primary statistics, we sometimes need aimed at developing educa- tistical concepts presented in school level, while secondary a huge amount of grey cells as tional resources and training. ALEA are based – contributes school students are introduced to well as mental gymnastics in terms of elementary statisti- more elaborate concepts such as training. To understand statis- What’s in it for us? The cal concepts. Not to mention inductive statistics. tics, one not only needs to answer is simple. Statistical the web designers involved in master a foreign statistical ter- institutes, in carrying out their page design and content cre- This development encouraged minology, but they also need activity, are responsible not ation, and schoolteachers us to reflect on the usual intro- to know about methodology only for producing, dissemi- who translate the website so ductory courses in statistics. The and metadata. nating and analysing statisti- that English- and French- ALEA project, taking advantage cal information but also for speaking students in other of its complimentary character in Statistical users must therefore ensuring that this information parts of the world can also relation to the classic concept of be provided with tools to deci- is understood as objectively as benefit. the lesson, is equipped to adapt pher this specific language possible. Our specific interest to the new paradigms of teach- and young people, in particu- in ALEA is in disseminating Rethinking statistics ing statistics. lar, must be helped to over- data and promoting the use of pedagogy come their reluctance to deal statistical information for a For readers who are unfamil- with this subject and become specific public. One reason that pushed us to iar with the world of teaching critical and responsible users become more proactive in the statistics, statistics pedagogy of statistics. Multi-disciplinary input ‘statistics and education’ area is said to follow four para- was that, in Portugal, the digms. Statistics as This is where the ALEA project To create the site, we needed teaching of statistics was comes into play. ALEA – Local more than statistics anoraks! recently included in the O- 1. a branch of mathematics; Action of Applied Statistics – The ALEA team brings togeth- level (7th, 8th and 9th years) 2. data analysis; is a new instrument to support er people from INE and and A-level (10th and 11th 3. experience planning; the teaching of statistics to pri- Tomaz Pelayo Secondary years) mathematics syllabi. 4. a problem-based matter. mary and secondary school School with different back- students and teachers through grounds – economy, statistics, Elementary topics such as the Encouraging an interactive page on INE’s mathematics and sociology. gathering and organisation of statistical reasoning website (http://www.ine.pt). An external consultant – who data, data representation and also consults for the second- interpretation, measures of cen- Traditional statistics teaching The project started out as a focuses on the first three joint proposal by Tomaz Pela- aspects. However, statistical yo Secondary School from reasoning must come before Northern Portugal and INE, statistical methods. It is not and has now become a joint advisable to present statistics project with a third partner, http://alea-estp.ine.pt at the introductory level as a the Ministry of Education. The branch of mathematics. Good The animated ALEA school, having considerable homepage statistics should, of course, be computer resources, namely a identified with purity and multimedia workshop where it mathematical precision, but it edits and produces education- is also associated with careful al material, was particularly thinking. qualified for such a project. In terms of resources, ALEA has Adopting the last paradigm benefited from European implies, therefore, demonstrat- S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 29

ing that statistics are part of a were gathered, data-based infer- Test your statistical problem-solving strategy. Statisti- ences and, finally, questions or knowledge – ALEA cal methods would, thus, be reservations concerning the con- proves that statis- used to define a data set and not clusions found. The results of the tics and fun can be the other way round. Under this best statistical work in the cours- good bedfellows perspective, the course is organ- es, after correction by the ised as a series of applied prob- teacher, are then made publicly lems – problems that could very available in the ‘Virtual Gallery’ well be taken from news items of ALEA’s website. with a statistical content found in the mass media. Demonstrating Statistics can be fun the power, elegance and beauty of statistical reasoning by using Who said statistics was boring, realistic examples will encour- all work and no play? Our site age students to use critical think- proves the contrary with a selec- ing skills – an ability for life. tion of edutainment activities using fun cartoons, animated tion and housing census. We who spend about 13 minutes In this sense, the ALEA project images and the like. carried out a survey with a sam- online; a real success! aims to create a place where ple of about 200 schools, involv- both teachers and students can With the ‘Trivial Statistics’ game, ing almost 11 000 students. Moreover, the feedback has take part in solving everyday based on the famous Trivial This mini-census entitled ‘you generally been very positive. problems giving rise to reflec- Pursuit, the idea is to better count, too’, collected information Every day, the ALEA team tions of a statistical nature. It also understand INE’s website by about the use of information receives suggestions for gives an opportunity to use inter- asking questions on a number of technologies (PC, Internet), daily improvement; contributions to disciplinary activities by using different topics (demography, aspects of the students, including the Virtual Gallery, or ques- and serving other subjects health, external trade, etc.). transport, friends, etc. tions via the “ALEA Forum”. besides mathematics. Knowledge and speed are important elements of the game. We have also developed two The ALEA project is widely In some courses, students are courses, available online: known in academic circles suggested to read the texts In ‘Glory of Statistics’, the user ‘Statistical concepts’, presenting and teacher disciplinary before the lessons, during which is asked about descriptive sta- elementary concepts of descrip- groups. Several times a year, only questions regarding the tistics, and must calculate, tive statistics and ‘Probability we promote the ALEA web data sets to be analysed are dis- against the clock, parameters concepts’, providing concepts pages by providing schools cussed. By placing a vast quan- like median and average for a and exercises on prabability. with posters, the magazine tity of available official statistical given list of values. ALEAZine and CD-ROMs. To information at the disposal of stu- An e-learning environment is maintain a direct link with the dents, and by allowing them to Other features & initiatives also being created, based on users, the ALEA team main- create their own documented the two statistical courses avail- tains a list of contacts with databases, ALEA complies with Statisticians are well aware of able on ALEA. This area will teachers and schools. In addi- this pedagogical approach. how the media can sometimes allow teachers and students to tion, cooperation projects are misinterpret statistical data. The develop some statistical skills, being established with the Learning by doing site therefore tries to stimulate under the guidance of a tutor, Statistical and Mathematical users’ understanding of statistical who can remotely monitor the Societies and the Mathem- Developing students’ statistical information in the media, with class, using synchronised atical Teachers Association. reasoning includes active learn- analysis and comment of texts resources such as a chat room ing strategies that make it possi- extracted from newspapers and or, even through sporadic face- People from the ALEA team ble to supplement what they magazines. to-face statistical sessions. are frequently invited to pres- have heard and read on statis- ent the project in conferences tics, and actually produce statis- Other practical tools such as a And if that’s not enough, a CD- and seminars related to edu- tics. Experimental learning calculator enable the user to edit ROM and other multimedia tainment, distance learning (‘learning by doing’) must be data obtained through class- products have also been devel- and statistics teaching. And if supplemented by the written and room or field activities such as oped to supplement what is on you go to the next ISI world oral presentation of results. compilation of questionnaire the Internet. congress in Berlin in August results, collection of data sets, 2003 (see article on page Because writing helps to clarify among others. Some 400 visitors a day! 47), you will hopefully bump and understand a subject, stu- into us presenting it and share dents present their statistical proj- One of our latest projects was in The ALEA website averages your comments and sugges- ect with its objectives, how data the context of the 2001 popula- about 400 visitors per day, tions with us. ■ The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 30

We’ve heard about people’s ideas for reviewing the way the ESS works. unclear status in decision-mak- We’ve also learned about enlargement as one of the main challenges. But ing. We accept that we are not what do the Candidate Countries think? How can they contribute to the dis- yet EU members. But with enlargement looming ever larger cussion? In preparation for Palermo, the NSIs of the Candidate Countries on the horizon, the participation came together in Budapest to discuss how they think we can get the ESS and responsibilities of the house in order. TAMÁS MELLÁR, President of the Hungarian Central Candidate Countries in the deci- Statistical Office, who hosted the meeting, gives the lowdown. sion-making processes of the ESS should be clearly defined. Preferably, our status should be equal to that of other members of ESS rethink: the ESS, considering that we are already obliged to provide all data and indicators that the a puzzle for 25 Commission requests. Promoting dialogue and more players about statistics Planning at the national level will be much more efficient if s the Candidate Countries, Organisation matters roles and responsibilities of all the appropriate bodies of the Awe have been working partners in the ESS are clearly ESS are able to decide on how closely within the ESS for a good Where should we begin? Apart defined. and when international com- decade now, so much so that we from endorsing moves to estab- mitments should be fulfilled. feel, in many respects, part of lish a solid legal footing for the Within this structure, there is a Unexpected and sometimes the family. We know that the ESS, our general view is that the need for central coordination, a uncoordinated or unrealistic future of European statistics lies ESS should work as a coordinat- role which we think Eurostat requests often put the NSIs in a in the future of the ESS and that ed network, rather than a single should play more. Attention difficult situation, their we have the strength to make it administrative structure. The sys- should also be paid to coordina- resources being far too limited the best system in the world. This tem requires strong professional tion within Eurostat, especially to be able to adjust to new is why we would like to offer our integration based on mutual trust between its various units. requirements at short notice. hands and tools in carving out its and commitment in a non-hierar- Currently, there are a number of The balance between the costs shape. chical network, in which the issues that are handled different- incurred, the burden on ly by individual units within respondents and the satisfac- Eurostat, which often puts an tion of users should always be additional burden on the shoul- considered. ders of NSIs. This is where a powerful In addition, there needs to be a European statistical council better division of responsibilities (ESC), established to fit the over- between the Statistical Program- all structure of the ESS, could me Committee (SPC) and work- play a pivotal role. An ESC ing groups. Well-prepared and could be the body that promotes documented working groups political dialogue about Euro- should deal with technicalities, pean statistics at the national leaving more time for the SPC to level and could advise politicians deal with strategic and program- on statistical issues at the EU and matic issues. But to achieve this, national level, recognised by the structure and procedures of political partners. There is a defi- working groups should be nite need for priority setting in an revised, including the standard environment where political deci- and the timely availability of doc- sions are not necessarily fol- uments, allowing enough time lowed by financial decisions, at for NSIs to discuss internally least concerning the ESS, espe- before meetings. cially at the national level.

Tamás Mellár A more delicate issue to put into Moreover, a unit or body could words is our concern about our be established that would be S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 31

responsible for the evaluation of tion of databases, dissemina- the importance and usefulness of tion tools and dissemination certain surveys – mainly to con- practices in the ESS as well as sider whether the purpose and a common policy on which sta- usefulness of the survey justify tistical products should be con- the costs. sidered as a public good and which are marketable. Users galore A high quality service to users As far as users are concerned, requires a careful assessment we feel that the current statistical of users’ needs. However, an activity of the Union is strongly important obstacle to monitor- focused on serving the Com- ing and analysing users’ mission’s needs. However, inte- needs is that users of gration, globalisation, the free European statistics are often movement of capital, goods, not known to NSIs. This is why services and people have broad- the NSIs should have a better ened the range of users to knowledge of the users and include business and civil socie- uses of European statistics, by ty. And it can only be expected focussing integration more on that the range of users will fur- users. ther expand, as the reform of European Governance for The timeliness-versus- enhancing openness, trans- accuracy debate Candidate Countries staying in tune with the ESS … parency and accountability, stim- ulates closer cooperation with The problems of statistical sys- duce these estimates? Or the We newcomers civil society, the market, the sci- tems are compounded, espe- ECB itself? have an advantage entific community, national insti- cially with the increasing need tutes, regions and small areas. for short-term indicators within For some data, the suggestion For reasons of space, I cannot a very short period, as is the has been made of having a pay justice to all the ideas In our view, the ESS can fulfil case for ECB requirements. specific EU data collection, canvassed. But, by way of a the needs of a broader range The ESS, and especially the based on a sample, which conclusion, when we look at of users by providing NSIs, will have tremendous would be representative for the challenges before the ESS European, as well as compa- difficulties in producing the the whole of the Union. and our own experience in rable national, regional and indicators within the requested building statistical systems, we small area data and compara- deadlines, and will need to The conceptualisation of the think that the Candidate tive analyses. Our experience overcome serious readjust- survey would be done by an Countries could well be in a is that users want ready-to-use ment problems in their data EU institution (Eurostat), and better position than our EU products, rather than having collection and data process- the data collection would be friends concerning the strate- to put the product together ing methods. carried out by the NSIs. The gic planning of statistical inte- themselves. They expect more raw individual records would gration. analyses from statisticians. How and to what extent be transmitted to Eurostat, could these statistical indica- and data editing and pro- Just take a look at our nation- Analysis at the European level tors be replaced by estimates cessing would be carried out al programmes of adoption or comparative analysis may based on models? If they can there. of the statistical acquis or the need coordination. In addition, be replaced by model esti- inventory of European statisti- some of our users are analysts mates, which institutions This sounds promising, but the cal programmes, which is who will expect access to should be responsible for the feasibility of such a solution regularly reviewed in each European, as well as compara- modelling? Is it a task for needs careful analysis, includ- country. Progress in this field tive national, regional and NSIs, when it is well known ing the practical, legal and is constantly monitored by small area data files or data- that many NSIs do not even methodological aspects. And national administrations and bases and meta data. These plan to engage in modelling again, although not wanting by the Commission. Such les- emerging needs may mean that and forecasting? If not the to play the same record, if sons from this long and in the future the ESS will also NSIs, which national institu- Candidate Countries are mem- sometimes tortuous process have to act as a coordinated tions can be accepted to pro- ber states by the time such a could be worth consulting for dissemination network in fulfill- duce estimates that will be solution is introduced, if it is, the integration and planning ing users’ needs and not just as used as “quasi official statis- our involvement in the feasibil- efforts of all members of the a producer. This is why we tics”? Or should an interna- ity analysis would be advis- ESS. Our hands are at the need to address the harmonisa- tional actor, Eurostat, pro- able. ready. ■ The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 32

With enlargement looming ever larger on the horizon and the European Statistical System in the midst of looking at itself in the mirror, it’s the best moment to find out what users think. DG Enlargement’s MAURICE GUYADER, from the ‘Negotiations & Pre-Accession Coordination’ directorate, is an ideal user to speak with. He is involved in preparing the reports on which the enlargement process depends. Sigma’s GLEN CAMPBELL met up with him. Statistics open the road for enlargement

he airwaves are starting to Tcrackle more and more with enlargement this, enlargement that. And it’s not surprising. The next wave of enlargement is unprecedented in terms of the sheer number of countries join- ing, the geographical coverage and the fact that the vast majori- ty of countries come from the for- mer Soviet bloc with a wealth of different histories, cultures and economic situations.

On the road to enlargement with 90% Eurostat horsepower! In October 2002, the Com- mission recommended to close accession negotiations with ship of the European Union Help, the data don’t tally because one side includes a set Cyprus, the Czech Republic, and provide the basis for of data for trade zone whereas Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Member States’ decision- Mr Guyader has plenty of anec- the other doesn’t. Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the making in the framework of dotal evidence that highlight Slovak Republic and Slovenia. the enlargement process. The data problems. Reconciliation Another problem of data recon- The objective is that the first latest reports of October between Eurostat and national ciliation is pretty much home- group of new members should 2002 were particularly sig- sources is one such difficulty. “It grown, so to speak, in terms of join the EU in time for the elec- nificant, since they were sup- can be very awkward in bilater- the Commission as a whole. DG tions to the European Parliament posed to enable the al meetings when we present Agriculture also compiles data scheduled for June 2004. Commission finally to recom- Eurostat data – which is our on the Candidate Countries’ mend that the accession bible – that diverge from the agricultural sector, using Food Regular reports are key negotiations be closed by the data given by the country itself. and Agricultural Organisation end of 2002 with the 10. Normally, there is always a sources, and compiles aggre- Of course, such negotiations small margin of difference, but gates that are not exactly the and decisions need to be well About 90% of the statistics sometimes the variations are same as Eurostat’s. This has led informed if they are to work. This used by DG Enlargement in huge, which can have far-reach- DG Enlargement to register a is where the regular reports the regular reports come ing consequences! surplus for the EU and DG come in, which are accompa- from Eurostat. The picture of Agriculture to declare lower fig- nied by a strategy paper that data coverage and timeliness “This was the case with the trade ure. On this point, Mr Guyader makes recommendations to the is mostly very good, with data for Hungary, for example, wishes that there were just one Member States regarding these trade being somewhat a star up to 2000 .According to source – Eurostat – to avoid such decisions. performer particularly in Hungary, it was in surplus with mind-boggling muddles. terms of timeliness. But it isn’t the EU, whereas for us, it was The regular reports give the all a bed of roses. There are the EU that was in surplus with “These kinds of situation make state of play of the Candidate several petals falling off and Hungary! The problem is not a our work difficult. We lose the Countries towards member- buds not flowering. result of poor statistics, but rather work we’ve prepared con- S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 33

cerning arrangements, negoti- tering contact and coopera- For this reason, he would like to undoubtedly benefit the statisti- ations and so forth, and look tion with other organisations.” see the Commission- Eurostat- cal system in terms of delegation like we haven’t done our ECB triangle, and particularly and avoiding duplication of homework properly. What’s A blemished picture the dialogue between the latter effort, but if contact points are more, policy-makers can lose for FDI two, strengthened. multiplied, he is a little con- trust in statistics.” cerned. Mr Guyader just According to Mr Guyader, FDI Concerning the European wants one port of call for Getting better statistics is one of the areas run- Statistical System, although Mr data, not a telephone trip ning into obstacles and one that Guyader admitted to not know- around Europe. In Mr Guyader’s view, on the needs development. ing anything of it – a fact which issue of Candidate Country “Compared to the very satisfac- brings home the need to On the ‘Europe First’ proposal data, Eurostat has improved tory situation for trade data”, he increase the visibility of the ESS (see articles on pages 6 and 8), over the last decade – which he says, “the picture for FDI data is – he nonetheless shared some in terms of prioritising the rapid recognises is a limited time for wanting in terms of coverage thoughts about how he would production of European data, he getting statistics up and running. and timeliness, so we can only like the system to look. From his thinks it is the recommended “We now have excellent statis- shrug our shoulders at politi- stance as a Commission user of route to follow. And he points to tics” he boasts. But he confesses cians’ requests for certain FDI data, reinforcing the European the Candidate Countries’ efforts that the speed of improvement data. And we find it difficult try- statistical system is the only solu- in adopting the statistical acquis can actually cause problems ing to explain to them that while tion for simple access to reliable which by and large have man- when it comes to explaining we have good trade data, our and comparable EU-branded aged to come an incredibly methodological breaks to politi- FDI data are thin on the data via Eurostat. long way by making the statis- cians! ground.” tical acquis their goal. Proof He understands that setting up that setting a common goal This data improvement problem The data that they can expect centres of excellence will works. ■ was the case with GDP meas- from Eurostat on FDI in the ured as Purchasing Power Candidate Countries are Standards (PPS) with Lithuania between one and two years old, recently, where there was a sig- for the global situation quite nificant gap of between this and overdue in politicians’ eyes, not last years’ data, simply because mentioning the lack of greater the data are more accurate now. detail such as how much a coun- Other examples are not far try attracts. And there is no pre- away. Again, Mr Guyader cise idea of the origin of the laments the task of explaining flows. To help plug the holes in this to the higher administrative this Swiss cheese, three other and political ranks. sources are used: the EBRD, UNCTAD’s World Investment It is also difficult plodding Report and the OECD for through statistics from different Poland, Hungary, the Czech organisations – if not a night- Republic and Turkey. But it is far mare. “Data often seem to be from ideal. different for the same item. But how can we have two different – Preparing tomorrow official – sources”, he says. “Look, for example, at the for- In view of the existing data After joining the Commission in 1980 to work as an econo- eign direct investment (FDI) data problems, Mr Guyader looks mist on economic and financial affairs, Maurice Guyader has from UNCTAD (United Nations to the future with a small bub- been working on Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent Conference on Trade and ble of question marks above States since 1990, and more particularly on preparing enlarge- Development) and the EBRD his head, particularly in terms ment reports since 1997. (European Bank for of the euro. When the Reconstruction and Develop- Candidate Countries join, this He has been working in DG Enlargement’s ‘Negotiations & ment) – they are rather different. means that there will be size- Pre-Accession Coordination’ directorate since 1999 and is Even something as basic as able group of countries out- responsible for economic matters, trade analysis, economic GDP per capita in PPS figures side the euro-zone at least for studies, OECD and UN relations. from the World Bank and a few years. Data quality and Eurostat diverge. What is knowing what’s what will per- He has also kept a firm foot in the academic world as an asso- needed, in my view, is for haps never have been so ciate professor at Paris-Sorbonne III in European economics. Eurostat to take the lead in fos- important, in his view. The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 34

Svein Longva on a statistical protocol

“It is not necessary to wait for legal action to start the process of renewal. Maybe we should start acting on a Gentlemen’s agreement basis and later introduce a sta- tistical act that is in accordance with this behaviour.” (Director-General of Statistics Norway) The microphone is yours

Carmen Alcaide Guindo on an ESS identity

“Identity is nothing that can be prescribed. We have to create our European identity and we can achieve it in spite of all our cultural differences. We have to discuss, define, approve … and maybe, one day, we will have a statistical protocol reflecting the identity of the ESS.” (President of INE Spain)

Enrico Giovannini on a research profile for the ESS

“The reputation of the ESS as a high quality data- provider also depends on users’ perceptions about the quality of research activities. It is therefore vital for the ESS to take the lead in developing new statistical meth- ods. Improving its research profile requires not only enhancing the right skills and staff but also an increased mobility of researchers between Eurostat and the NSIs. Pilot exercises for centres of excellence should be start- ed today rather than tomorrow.” (Director of the OECD Statistics Directorate) S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 35

Steven Keuning on statistical independence

“The core product of the ESS is an undisputed, trust- worthy view of reality – this is an essential aspect which has to be written down and cemented into some- thing like a charter of the ESS. The profile of the ESS as perceived by the public must be independent, high- ly professional and undisputed. Concerns, no matter whether they relate to independence or quality, in one country can spill over to the whole ESS and therefore should be of concern to all.”

… and on Europe First

“Europe First or ‘First for Europe’ – the expression I pre- fer – will certainly not obviate the need of national fig- ures. Understanding the underlying developments in the European aggregates from national figures that are published at the same time or a bit later will remain of utmost importance.” (Director General of the ECB Statistics Directorate General)

Adelheid Bürgi-Schmelz on high and low priorities

“We should definitely pay more attention to the demand side, both gov- ernment customers and civil society users have not only top, but also low priorities. Statistical projects carry a price tag that need to be agreed on at the same time as a project is put on a list of priority activities to be implemented.”

… and on bundling know-how

“We need to look for more synergies within the European statistical com- munity. If we can use common tools and practices, if we bundle our know-how into centres of excellence across Europe, we will be much bet- ter equipped to handle the increasing demand. The old management rule that structure follows strategy also applies to statistics. I therefore agree with Yves Franchet when he says that we have to extend the prin- ciple of subsidiarity from a one-way path to a two-way street – a street connecting European and national statistics for the benefit of all.” (President of Statistics Switzerland)

Luca Paolazzi on building trust in statistics

“If you want to enhance the trust of people in your figures, then increase the level of detail. Take the prominent example of the released inflation figure and the perceived inflation … The average smoothes out increases and decreases of prices while the perception of people con- centrates on increases, so if you spread the data that are nearer to the perception of people, they will try to identify their experience with statistics and trust statistics as a whole.”

… and what education has to do with it

“Address the question of education, because education and trust are linked. Just as the prim- itive man and woman were afraid of thunder because they could not understand and explain the natural phenomenon, there is apprehension about, and distrust of, statistics among the non-statistically-literate. So teach people statistics, and maybe start with the media.” (Journalist, Il sole 24 ore) The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 36

ESS ACTION PLAN

Gathering at the DGINS conference, Europe’s Strength and visibility ✔Create a European council for official statistics, assisted by Directors-General of the National Statistical Institutes ✔ Give a legal basis to the ESS a scientific committee gave some clear indications of the basic pillars of what • Ensure the maintenance of Article the ESS’ new edifice could look like. In the wake of • Launch a reflection on the 285 in the new Treaty opportunity and feasibility of Palermo, an action plan was set up and adopted by creating this council, its mandate, • Define a coordinated approach to the SPC at the end of November to strengthen the ESS, its composition, its institutional the co-decision procedure, and improve how it functions and implement ‘First for status, and the future of the CEIES • Examine the possible revision of Europe’. Eurostat’s Director-General YVES FRANCHET ✔Reinforce Eurostat’s role as the Statistical Law in order to sums up the main points of the plan. coordinator of statistical acti- include the role of the NSIs in vities within the Commission coordination at national level • Revise the organisation of the ✔Develop a European dissemination Directors’ Committee of Statistical Palermo policy, including communication Information (CDIS) and how it with citizens functions mutates into an action plan

he Palermo conference is of officials…) and support a Tover and everyone has common dissemination policy. returned home. What next? More than just a talking shop The plan is broadly three-pillared around a drawing board, this and responds to the proposals meeting offered an opportunity canvassed at Palermo. It sets out to gather all our ideas on rein- to reinforce the strength and visi- forcing and improving the func- bility of the ESS, improve how tioning of the ESS and to evalu- the system functions and ate some of the current actions. addresses ‘Europe First’. But there is no time to lose now to put these ideas into action. A large majority of the SPC We need to act and fast. approved the proposal to set up a task force, chaired by the Action plan gets thumbs-up UK's Mr Kidgell and support- ed by Eurostat, to examine all I greatly welcome, therefore, legal and institutional issues the SPC’s (Statistical Program- concerning the future of the me Committee) green light for ESS, and with a view to a an action plan, which allows future European Constitution. us to get the first actions imme- In addition to the UK, the task diately on the road. force will include participants from Germany, France, Exploring ways to give greater Ireland and the Netherlands. visibility and status to the ESS is the action plan’s chief aim. The Partnership Group will be A new legal basis, whatever responsible for the other items Starting from these lines of the discussion. Building a its form, should enable data to listed in the action plan, and will action, Eurostat will try and firm ESS, strong enough to be exchanged between mem- define the scope of actions pro- keep the ball rolling. We tackle enlargement and bers of the ESS, permit a posed and establish a timetable will set up a specific Circa other future challenges, greater flexibility for providing for their implementation. More- site to circulate the relevant requires a constructive con- financial support to those over, the group's chairman will documents and to allow all tribution and the joint effort ready to work for others (cen- make proposals to make the interested countries and rel- of all of its players. The ball tres of excellence, exchange Partnership Group more robust. evant bodies to contribute to is in the network. ■ S IGMA 2/2002 The future of the ESS 37

• Examine the possible association of ✔Strengthen the ESS ✔Continue the implementation of • Identify new areas where the Member States in the CDIS • Conduct benchmarks and common analy- the recommendations of the concept ‘First for Europe’ could be applied ✔Examine the legal instruments sis of the strengths, weaknesses, opport- leadership group (LEG) ‘Quality’ unities and threats of Eurostat and NSIs ✔ governing work in the ESS such ✔Set up a ‘fast track procedure’ Give more content to the as flexibility, gentlemen agreements, ✔Reinforce the Partnership Group to allow the ESS to respond to subsidiarity principle framework regulation, and so on • Propose possible actions to reinforce the urgent new requests • Identify areas where we could work Improve how the ESS Partnership Group better together (eg. centres of ✔Increase exchanges of staff excellence, pooling of expertise, functions ✔Revise the structure of Eurostat’s within the ESS LEGs, etc.) ✔Set up a strategic planning and working groups ✔ programming cycle for the ESS • Map the current situation Implementing Start a reflection on the use of ‘First for Europe’ advances in technology • Improve the consistency of the • Define the role of sector groups (technological developments, Community Five Year Programme and ✔ • Clarify the mandates, reporting Define where and how the common tools, use of Internet, annual working programmes structures and working methods of concept of ‘First for Europe’ exchange of data, working • Improve priority-setting working groups and task forces could be applied effectively methods…) to improve efficiency Istat on the right wavelengths

s the organiser of the more wind and in the right badly needs. The members of Aconference, Istat’s Presi- direction. such a council would not dent, Luigi Biggeri, helped only include producers of sta- navigate the course of the Where do we go now? tistics, but also represent debate on the future ESS. users and their needs. This What lessons has he drawn The first route signposted by way, users would have more from this exchange and does the conference is a stronger of a say in deciding which he think we are closer to a legal basis. But stop, this kinds of surveys are most solution? Sigma asked him. doesn’t mean that we need to important. drive ourselves into a sticky- I don’t want to be a party- red-tape street with red lights The second idea concerns pooper, but we are not out of everywhere. It means rather cost-effectiveness. We need the woods yet. We shouldn’t setting up a legal framework to make policy-makers and forget that national statistical giving us a mission and the public not only under- systems are firmly rooted in clearer vision and in which stand statistics better, but their culture and history – we can function more flexibly also make them aware of the each very distinct. This het- through partnerships, centres overall costs and benefits of erogeneity puts quite a brake of excellence or other statistics to society – and on achieving full comparabil- arrangements, catering for over time. Although the cost ity of data and methods. both European and national of producing particular statis- policy needs. tics may exceed the benefit Coupled with this is the fact today, we may well be thank- that the ESS is still too young In your view, what are the ful for having invested and lacking clout. However, most promising ideas that resources in them in the although there is still much to have been tabled? future. This is the kind of mes- do, we are starting to clear sage we ought to be getting the clouds. Although it took In the pool of excellent ideas across. us two decades to get where canvassed, setting up a we are now, our prepara- European scientific council Looking back on these two tions for enlargement have has particular resonance, as days, which conclusions been relatively swift. We can it would give the ESS the have you drawn personally do it. We just need to blow independence injection it for Istat? The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 38

First, it’s good to feel that we the costs of different surveys reconciled and there is a fear gan is perhaps better than are on the same wavelengths to show our parliament how that national statistics will ‘Europe first’ because it as other partners and think- much it costs at national and somehow be supplanted by describes better the objective ing about how we can local levels to have good sta- European interests through, that we have all set ourselves change things. For example, tistics of a high quality. for example, European over – that for monetary policy and one of our initiatives con- national surveys. This is where for the sake of the markets, we cerns the question of cost- Second, while we endorse the the syntactically and semanti- should find ways to provide effectiveness, where we are idea of ‘Europe first’, both cally different ‘First for Europe’ EU and EMU aggregates on a preparing an evaluation of national and EU needs to be idea comes into play. This slo- more timely basis. ■

As the Commissioner responsible for Economic and Monetary Affairs and Eurostat, PEDRO SOLBES has a substantial interest in the strengthening of the European Statistical System. Mr Solbes is also Chairman of the CEIES and partici- pated in its meeting last November. Here is his message:

he strengthening of the TEuropean Statistical System was the subject of the DGINS A robust Eurostat conference in Palermo. The ESS is currently working on propos- als and I would not wish to pre- judge the results of these delib- for a fortified ESS erations, but I would wish to make three points.

First, the institutional position of Eurostat: the ESS needs Eurostat to maintain its independence and scientific quality, and I am convinced that the best way to ensure this is to keep Eurostat as an integral part of the European Commission. The Commission, as guardian of the Treaties, is the only institution that can ensure that the fundamental principles of statistics, as enshrined in the European Statistical Law are fol- lowed with complete independ- ence. Eurostat must, therefore, remain within the Commission.

Second, the long-term future of In addition, the White Paper connected with Economic and cheap. That said, the level of the CEIES: Whatever is decided on European Governance Monetary Union. However, financing of statistical sys- about the CEIES, whether it is calls for opening up the poli- the Council has decided that tems is very small, less than strengthened or transformed into cy-making process to get there will be no Community one percentage point of a different body, such as a more people and organisa- funding for the EMU statistical GDP. European council for official sta- tions involved. Consequently, action plan, ie. no additional tistics, the user view must be I believe that whatever road is financial help from the However, the cost of making maintained. The ESS cannot taken, the users’ view should Commission. It is therefore the decisions based on poor deliver a top class service with- be given more importance. responsibility of the Member quality statistics can make out substantial input from its States to provide adequate several percentage points users. The CEIES and the paral- Finally, financing. As Commis- funding for these statistics. worth of difference to GDP. lel national bodies must be at the sioner for Economic and This needs to be remem- centre of the programming of Monetary Affairs, I am partic- But we all know that high- bered and adequate funding statistical activities. ularly interested in statistics quality statistics do not come maintained. ■ S IGMA 2/2002 Sigma profile 39

“Like an early-morning cockerel”

here can you in the same and the System of National Modlic Wday walk in the Alps and Accounts (SNA). For example, swim in the Adriatic, stopping in we had statistics on prices, at a handful of beautiful towns tourism and services which were and cities bearing the imprint of very unorthodox domains for the Habsburg Empire and the MPS.” Photo © are Venetian Republic? The answer is: Slovenia. With just under two Rocking boats million inhabitants, it will be one of the smallest Candidate But Slovenia did more than that: Countries to join the European “We in Slovenia went a step fur- Union. Sigma’s GLEN CAMP- ther, with our staff – well before BELL spoke with TOMA the break-up of Yugoslavia – BANOVEC, Director-General doing a lot of homework on of Statistiè Urad Republike SNA methodology. When we Slovenije – the Statistical Office had meetings in Belgrade with of the Republic of Slovenia the federal statistical office in the (SORS). former Yugoslavia, we some- Home of Slovenian statistics times even did some vigorous A mixed statistical system boat-rocking by advocating in the past the SNA approach, going “We weren’t given free rein to cal assistance that started in against the currents from the do as we pleased until the 1992. And it’s hats off to them Although the collapse of federal capital. break-up of Yugoslavia, when for successfully pulling through Communism represented a real we had a green light to drive the challenges raised by the watershed in the timeline of ourselves forward. Belgrade demanding, if not awesome, sta- Slovenian statistics, it did not Key statistical data still called the shots, laying tistical chapter. altogether mean bulldozing down methodology and con- everything down and starting Population: 2 million trolling all foreign contacts. For “Right from the start”, says Mr from scratch. Far from that. Number of staff: 389 example, when we expressed Banovec, “we knew that get- According to Mr Banovec, Average age: 42 the wish to work with Eurostat, ting our classifications, metho- “Communism in the former Share of women: 67.6% the response was a clear ‘no’. dology and registers into Yugoslavia was not the same Of which in order was indispensable. Our variety as that in other Eastern management positions: 15.6% “In a way, at least as far as strategy paper away back in bloc countries, where the strains Tertiary education: 65.0% Slovenia is concerned, it was 1993 made this absolutely were much stronger. More par- Staff aged 30 and below: 13.9% less a question of having to clear. Other milestones on this ticularly, it was more market-ori- change than being allowed to uphill path included the com- ented with self-managed state Like the majority of NSIs of the for- flourish – something that mon declaration of coopera- enterprises. mer Eastern bloc countries, women became possible after the tion with Eurostat in 1994 and outnumber their male colleagues at break-up of Yugoslavia and the 1995 statistical law that “The managers of these enter- the SORS (see above). And when you Slovenia’s independence.” lay stable legal foundations. prises needed statistics, first, for look at the organisational chart, understanding the domestic there are many men at the top. Why? Headstart “We knew that what was good Yugoslav market and, second, Mr Banovec explains: “Working in for Eurostat was good for us, for exports and imports. statistics is not easy. The work is These two aspects, Mr Banovec and this is still our view today. I Because of this mixed economic tough and the salaries not always the explains, gave Slovenian statis- would also say that we were context, the Yugoslav statistical best on the market. Too easily dis- tics a headstart in adapting to a fully aware of our humble posi- system was therefore somewhat couraged by the mountain of work bona fide SNA-based system tion in the world: we only repre- of a hybrid, a ‘two-timer’, to use before them, and if they are not pro- and to adopting the EU’s statisti- sent some 0.03% of the world’s the metaphor, using both the moted, men are more likely to leave cal acquis, although it was a rel- population. So, if we cannot Material Product System (MPS) and go elsewhere.” ative latecomer to Phare techni- understand Europe and the Sigma profile S IGMA 2/2002 40

more watertight by the OECD’s technical cooperation National Statistics Act of project (TECO) in the early 70s, 2001, providing for inde- Slovenian statistics was able to Modlic pendence, data confidentiality start working with other coun- and monitoring of pro- tries and particularly with grammes of statistical surveys. Germany’s North Rhine- Internal management and Westphalia region, with which Photo © are organisation are good. As is they worked on databanks and dissemination which uses up- methodological training. to-date technology. In addition to working with Demographic and social statis- Nordic countries on setting up tics are up to standard, bar a their register-based statistical few technical creases such as system, they also enlisted their structural earnings statistics and guidance on economic statis- implementation of the ISCED tics in a market economy in classification (International preparation for calculating Standard Classification of Edu- macroeconomic aggregates cation) . Agricultural statistical under SNA. Although there is information is detailed and com- little bilateral cooperation with prehensive. other Candidate Countries, there is a great deal of pilot When he retires this year at the age of 64, Toma Banovec Mr Banovec admits that there projects and other initiatives will be able to look back on his career with contentment. are, however, a few discordant such as those currently under- Certainly, when you tot up his experience in statistics admin- notes in this otherwise tuneful way via CARDS (Community istration – 22 years as Director-General of the Statistical ensemble, and they concern Assistance for Reconstruction, Office of the Republic of Slovenia – he looks like a grizzled economic statistics – particularly Development and Stability). veteran. macroeconomic. Although the problems are few, they are in the Skills for sale Graduating in geodesy in 1965, his career started off in car- areas of national accounts, agri- tography and he became director of the Institute of Geodesy. cultural accounts, structural busi- Slovenian statistics is a bit like He then moved into social affairs and deputy-directed the ness statistics and some short- the bright and amiable fellow Institute of Social Planning in 1975. Keen to get experience term statistics. This has been student at school to whom one of another domain, he was appointed director of the Centre because of a lack of human can turn for lecture notes or help for Informatics and Social System of Information in 1979. In resources both in number and – particularly for other former 1981, he took up his present post at the helm of the skills. Yugoslav countries, in the so- Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia. called CARDS countries or South Weaving the international Western Balkan countries. To find out more about Slovenia’s statistical system, click on: cooperation web http://www.sigov.si/zrs/slo/drz.pdf Mr Banovec is proud of such EU cooperation has been par- recognition, but there is a down- world statistically, our econo- Measuring up ticularly valuable with the per- side: “If you are good, this hap- my and society cannot under- to the acquis spective of enlargement: pens, but it can be too costly in stand and determine them- know-how, courses, pilot proj- terms of human resources. selves. Slovenian statistics measures up ects, patience, being allowed Because we are cashstrapped well to the standards of the to choose suitable partner for employment growth, this “We therefore linked the sta- acquis, despite problems here countries, among a host of means more work for us and tistical programmes of and there. It’s singing from the others. Of course, it wasn’t especially for the other staff who Slovenia and of the EU very same hymn sheet as other NSIs. always a picnic. For example, have to take on their work in closely together – a strategy The instruments are generally the patchwork of statistical their absence. In addition, there that was given more back- well tuned, the players generally models in use around Europe is no cash for long-term stays bone and justification with the well rehearsed and the main sometimes made the learning and so on. It’s like a rose with a opening of accession negotia- conductor – Mr Banovec – main- and comparison process more thorn in it.” tions in 1998. And this emula- taining the tempo. difficult. tion goes beyond the statisti- The smaller, the harder cal acquis to include Eurostat’s To start with, the statistical Apart from working with the EU, corporate-style management infrastructure is robust: the Mr Banovec is very quick to cite The NSIs of small and large practices imported into our existing legal framework built all the pluses of international countries are a bit like the own system.” up from 1995 was made cooperation. Thanks to the small family firm and the S IGMA 2/2002 Sigma profile 41

giant factory. Although provide us with the data and Facts and figures smaller countries have a we look after their process- smaller volume of data, the ing and dissemination.” Centralised and independent, the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SORS) workload is generally the is the main nerve centre of the Statistical Service of the Republic of Slovenia, set up same qualitatively, but actu- Smaller countries also gener- by the 1995 National Statistics Act (amended in 2001). ally quantitatively greater ally have the additional prob- because of the proportional- lem of data confidentiality: The SORS is responsible for most of official statistics, statistical programmes, coordi- ly smaller staff: the variety the fewer the units, the less nation of methodology, definitions and classifications, while data collection tasks are of datasets, the methodolog- anonymous they feel, and the assigned to seven other so-called authorised producers (government or semi-inde- ical problems and the inter- less inclined they are to give pendent agencies): Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Public and Legal Records national commitments don’t away data. So, to remedy and Services; Bank of Slovenia; Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia; change much. It’s hard luck this situation, statisticians Ministry of Finance; Pension and Disability Insurance Institute of Slovenia; but economies of scale are a have to find ways of collect- Employment Service of Slovenia; and the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia. pleasure more for the bigger ing and disseminating data countries to enjoy. where anonymity is guaran- Users and providers also have a say in things via the Statistical Council and its 24 teed. Mr Banovec elaborates: advisory committees in charge of discussing and advising on the programmes, law Mr Banovec elaborates: “It is “To avoid identification, we and standards. It has no regional offices. difficult, but we manage. We suppress data that are the try to be better organised aggregate of up to three units them, perhaps a little like Davids money setting up surveys and through better administra- only and where one of them among Goliaths. But this simile is questionnaires can be reduced tion, identifying administra- has a 50% share in the not appropriate for Slovenian to a minimum, more ad hoc tive units and linking admin- aggregate. Otherwise, we try statistics, Mr Banovec under- basis. istrative sources. We are not to obtain the agreement of lines, nor has it caused much of experts of only one field but the unit concerned or restrict a problem for them. The mainstay of Slovenia’s sec- try to favour a horizontal dissemination. But we have toral statistics is a register-based hands-on approach. What’s not yet been able to develop Nordically register-based statistical system, built up over more, because we’re small, common rules.” the last two decades. Realising we know each other better, Registers have a lot of advan- that our Nordic colleagues had know whom to contact etc. Workload is not the only prob- tages compared to surveys and this down to a fine art, Slovenia We also play a big role in lem for smaller countries. They questionnaires. Intentionally pil- started cooperating in the determining and organising often have a tougher time mak- ing on the adjectives, they offer 1970s with Denmark and the statistics-related work in ing their voices heard during permanent, rich, versatile, rapid Sweden on this subject. But it the ministries. These min- negotiations or shaping the and cost-effective sources of was not until 1983 that the sys- istries and other agencies working environment to suit data. As a result, time and tem was put into place.

line with the changed geopolitical landscape, the sta- tourists and it’s own citizens, introducing market eco- Putting the jigsaw tistics for a number of territories were maintained by nomics and worker self-management. For Slovenian Rome, while Vienna kept them for another region. statistics, this meant the development of a number of pieces together statistical areas such as statistics for services, prices Following a decree on organising the Federal and tourism and a keen interest in Western statistical When you look at the history of Slovenia, it’s advis- Statistical Office of Yugoslavia in 1944, and the iron approaches and methodology, although not as much able to search out your dusty old school history book curtain going up, the Statistical Office of Slovenia was as it would have liked. from the loft as a reference. Better still, an updated established in June 1945 to collect, process and dis- and expanded edition. Apart from being one of the seminate statistics for what was now one of the Not so long after Yugoslavia broke away from Moscow former Yugoslav republics in the former Communist Yugoslav republics. In 1953, it became an independ- in the domino chain reaction that took hold of Eastern bloc, the past geopolitical landscape of Slovenian sta- ent administrative body and was later renamed the Europe, Slovenia declared independence from the tistics not only includes the influences of Belgrade and Statistical Office of the People’s Republic of Slovenia. Yugoslav federation, which led to ten days of fighting Ljubljana, but also Budapest, Vienna and, yes, Rome. between the Slovene forces and the federal army. For Let’s fast rewind. Slovenian statistics, this was a difficult moment. In the Breaking away wake of the ten-day war, Slovenia put a moratorium on As a result of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the first transmitting statistics to Belgrade, yet the Office – independent statistical service that covered most of What’s happened over the last 50 years has to be seen caught between the commitments of the former federal Slovenia was set up in Vienna in 1863, with Budapest against Yugoslavia’s economic and political context regime and the fledgling independent Slovenian state – taking care of the remainder. When the Empire crum- that restored and increased ties with the West. This was still doing this, which was understood as treason in bled with the First World War, Slovenia became part of about-turn started with the quarrel between Tito and Ljubljana. But once the water came off the boil, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed Stalin in 1948, an epoch-making event which was Slovenian independence was finally won at the end of Yugoslavia in 1929), and Belgrade became the seat more of a rebellion against Moscow’s economic and 1991, the protagonists and actors established their new for the central statistical service, with a special statis- political supervision than of an ideological nature. As roles in this new system, shaping a new chapter in tical section for Slovenia being established in 1919. In a result, Yugoslavia opened up its borders to foreign Slovenian statistics. Sigma profile S IGMA 2/2002 42

Using both personal and busi- governmental circles in the ness identification numbers, eighties before the break-up of the SORS can obtain and link Yugoslavia. With convictions of personal and individual data the necessity to adopt Western from any administrative regis- statistical methodology, he ruf- ter for statistical purposes and fled more than just a few feath-

can compile registers for dif- Photo © Modlic are ers by banging the drums for ferent subject matters. The change. benefits of such a system speak for themselves for big Mrs ebre: “We Slovenians statistical undertakings such as speak of the early cockerel a census. For the 2002 cen- crowing that wakes every- sus, much of the information one up far too early out of came from these registers. the wrong side of the bed. Mr Banovec was like this, Slovenia has three main regis- studying hard and open- ters: the Central Population minded. He was able to say Register (held by the Ministry “no” to government and of Interior), the Business “you are not right.” His style Register (Agency of the was to step gradually but Republic of Slovenia for Public firmly into the water, not to Magdalena ebre and Legal Records and plunge headfirst into waves, Services) and the Register of ignoring the tide and power- Territorial Units (Surveying heading Slovenian statistics as the UN or especially the ful undercurrents. He gradu- and Mapping Authority of the for the last two decades, and OECD, which he sees as a ally forced things through Republic of Slovenia). The reg- has experienced the tremen- good and necessary outlet for and was a catalyst.” ister system is decentralised dous benefits of international free-minded forward-thinking. for data collection, using vari- cooperation and the assis- She also congratulates him for ous so-called authorised pro- tance stemming from prepa- More of a zealot his delegation and confidence ducers, such as the Agency of ration for EU accession. than an advocate in staff: “He has always been the Republic of Slovenia for open to grassroots proposals, Public and Legal Records and Mr Banovec believes that “the Magdalena ebre – State giving us a sense of responsi- Services (see facts and fig- European Statistical System Undersecretary for International bility and allowing us to devel- ures). However, processing, will be the best in the world”. and European Affairs – was op. If we do make a mistake, dissemination and confiden- But he realises that before we also present in the interview. rather than aggressively repri- tiality are the exclusive ambit can boast that superlative, After Mr Banovec rushed manding us, he sits down to talk of the SORS. we’ve still got some uphill away to another meeting, our things through and encourage climbing to do. He’s looking impromptu discussion together us, helping to shape and Mr Banovec realises that there through much the same crystal not only provided another improve our careers. This is could be more authorised pro- ball as other statisticians in viewpoint about the progress something that is fairly unique ducers to cope with the growth terms of reaching out better to made by Slovenian statistics to the statistical office; you don’t of data and expertise required. all types of users, better antici- but, more particularly, a view find this to the same extent in This is already happening, for pation of future needs, short- of Mr Banovec’s management the ministries or even sometimes example, with the delegation of term statistics, new phenome- style. Something of a mini in the private sector. He is like data collection to Slovenia’s na such as e-commerce, glob- scoop. Effective management a conductor in front of his Agriculture Institute. alisation, environmental pro- is important in any organisa- orchestra, helping each player tection, among others. tion, but it is all the more inter- to get their notes, pitch and On the ESS esting in organisations that tempo right.” And he is particularly sensitive have to usher in radical On his views of what the ESS about the need for resources changes – exactly what’s been Without wanting to labour the should look like in the future, and methods to help statisti- happening in the Candidate metaphor, the orchestra should there are three good reasons cians deal with new tasks so Countries. play well on the night of why Mr Banovec is a good that they don’t fall into similar enlargement, even if Mr person to speak with. traps and make big blunders. According to Mrs ebre, Mr Banovec will have handed the Slovenia is a Candidate Banovec is very much an avant- baton to someone else by then. Country and thus a future Apart from the ESS, he also gardiste and forward-thinker, We, the audience can look member of the ESS. What’s sees the advantages of other but this made him somewhat of forward to welcoming them more, Mr Banovec has been international partnerships such an enfant terrible in the federal on stage. ■ S IGMA 2/2002 Sigma profile 43

Reputed to be one of the Central and Eastern European Countries whose integra- Changing attitudes … tion into the European Union is expected to go rather smoothly, Hungary boasts a sound political basis and favourable economic conditions. Sigma’s BARBARA “Apart from the political revolu- tion, the first and major change JAKOB asked TAMÁS MELLÁR, President of the Central Statistical Office (KSH was ideological”, Mr Mellár in its Hungarian acronym), to tell us more about the state of Hungarian statistics recalls. “Our clients and stake- and the preparations underway for joining the European Union family. holders, the people, Govern- ment, researchers, businesses as well as the statisticians, themselves, had to change their We want to be mindsets. Statistics in the previ- ous political setting were main- ly used as a planning tool, and among the best as a tool of official decision- makers to check actual progress against plans. ungary’s courageous deci- KSH building in Budapest Hsion to open up its frontiers “Statistics, however, is an to its Western neighbour, important tool for creating and Austria, in that memorable sum- maintaining democracy. Demo- mer of 1989 blasted a hole in cracy depends on people being the iron curtain and spelled the able to take part in the public ‘beginning of the end’ of the debate. To do this, they must Communist experiment. Even in have access to reliable informa- Cold War times, Hungary was tion on all the important issues regarded as the Eastern bloc’s and be able to scrutinise the most Westernised country. policy process in its various Consequently, the transition stages. We, as statisticians, had towards a market economy to learn our new role.” took place – albeit with some hardship – more smoothly … and getting used to than in other Eastern Euro- new tools pean countries. As a direct result of transition to It is difficult to say whether this a market economy, a dramatic was also the case for statistics. and concern. On the one hand, still plenty of tasks ahead before change came about in the num- But Hungary was certainly the it can be interpreted as an Hungarian statistics can attain its ber and variety of respondents first country to experiment with achievement under not so ambitious and fierce goal to to business surveys. Prior to Western-type statistics and, for favourable circumstances. On catch up with the most devel- 1990, all the roughly 20 000 example, started to provide the other, one feels that there are oped countries in the world. enterprises were surveyed. national accounts figures along- After 1990, businesses started side MPS-data (Material Tamás Mellár’s (48) CV suggests that he is a very versatile to proliferate, rocketing to Product System) already at the person. An economist by education, he has alternated around 1 million. Mr Mellár: nadir of the Cold War, in the between the world of production and that of education and “Sample surveys were intro- 1960s. research, later getting his hands on policy-making and, final- duced, but the methodological ly, statistics. problems of sampling a popu- Tamás Mellár, President of the lation of businesses, whose KSH, would nevertheless call the At the turbulent beginnings of the transition to a market activity was not very well first years of transition in statistics economy, he headed the research department of the Institute known, were overwhelming. in the 1990s a battle. But a bat- for Privatisation Studies. With this know-how up his sleeve, tle from which it has finally come he was called to become the Chief Economic Adviser in the “A business register had to be out victor. Hungarian statistics is, Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office in 1992, before becoming built up at the same time as together with that of some other professor at the economic policy department of the Budapest developing the new methodolo- Candidate Countries, almost University of Economic Sciences in 1994 and heading the gies. But because social and fully harmonised and thus no economics department of Gödöllo Agricultural University in demographic statistics had longer benefits from PHARE 1997. He was appointed President of the Hungarian Central been very advanced before funding. At the KSH, this is pon- Statistical Office in 1998. 1990, methodological develop- dered with both contentment ment in this area was not all Sigma profile S IGMA 2/2002 44

that difficult. Our IT infrastruc- me, which is not yet finalised, is ture, however, was badly in part of this strategy and partly need of modernisation. All that derives from recommendations with extremely poor resources, made in the framework of a in a country with declining eco- peer review. nomic performance and very high inflation. Let’s go under the microscope “The most difficult development, besides building up a business Asking for such a peer review is register and organising sample rather unusual among statistical surveys, was probably the har- offices – Hungary was the sec- monisation of macroeconomic ond in Europe after Switzerland statistics. The full adoption of – and rather uneasy too since it the System of National means bringing all the weak- Accounts (SNA) and the ESA nesses of the system into light. 95 (European System of But this was exactly what the National Accounts) was a KSH intended. “We wanted to Herculean task. know where we stood and how we could catch up with the most “Technical assistance and inter- developed countries”, Mr Mellár national cooperation projects explains. “And we wanted to were an important motor for orient ourselves towards the best transformation. What’s more, – the reason why we addressed EU harmonisation was a kind of Tamás Mellár demonstrates credibly that the analysis elaborated under the peer review was not produced Statistics Canada.” On Mr magic word in Hungary that only to be forgotten in his in-tray. Based on the findings of the peer review a development plan has been Mellár’s invitation, Ivan Fellegi set up called ‘The Canadian Programme’. Sitting at his desk, Mr Mellár always has it within sight. “When made national politicians more we decided to have such a peer review carried out, it was because we wanted a real change”, he says, (Chief Statistician of Canada) willing to invest in statistics”, and adds “It is one of the most important things that I would like to have achieved when I leave this post.” and Jacob Ryten carried out this highlights Mr Mellár. “With the exercise in 2000/ 2001 (see formal adoption of our candi- Apart from getting a better isfied, broadly-oriented staff website http://www.ksh.hu/ dacy to EU membership, the tar- image for itself, the KSH has with attractive career prospects pls/ksh/docs/news/eszakvizs. get was set.” recently taken measures to is a key element of a strong sta- doc). make the office an increasingly tistical office”, Mr Mellár To all these difficulties can be attractive workplace. A rotation believes. The peer review gave the KSH added the shrinking KSH staff scheme allows newcomers to a good overall grade but iden- at that time. Many of the high- acquire experience in different Having mastered the transition, tified a number of areas where skilled professionals were lured statistical sections. In parallel, a the KSH is now preparing for a progress could be made. by the expanding private sec- six-week intensive training future with more and ever new “Some of the recommendations tor, capable of offering more course makes them familiar tasks. A broad Training and were not so dramatically new, attractive salaries. And it was with ‘Surveys from A-Z’. “A sat- Carrier Development Program- and we suspected a few again the economic statistics things”, Mr Mellár points out, department that was most “but it strengthened us and affected, since it was mostly Social statistics lagging behind helped me to convince my col- economists demanded on the leagues.” market and less so specialists in “There are hardly any discrepancies between EU and national objectives when the soft human sciences – which it comes to Hungary’s business and economic statistics”, Mellár says. Following the findings of the were more represented in peers, a number of committees social statistics. But for social statistics, it is quite a different kettle of fish. At the early stages were established to discuss of transition, when the economic performance of the country was poor and ways of getting rid of the defi- Fit for the future resources scarce, all available resources had to be devoted to business and eco- ciencies concerning: nomic statistics. EU harmonisation also concentrated mostly on economic sta- Salary adjustments in the pri- tistics. In the social sector, the labour force survey and international migration ◗ relations with other members vate sector in the late 1990s were the only important areas of harmonisation. of the official statistical sys- and in 2000 put a halt to this tem (ministries), development, placing the KSH Social statistics at that time did not get adequate attention and support, on a more equal footing when although the transition period brought about a lot of social tensions, which ◗ financial management, competing for high-skilled ought to have been monitored statistically. Resources, however, needed to be recruits. shifted to other, possibly more urgent, statistical fields. ◗ public and client relations, S IGMA 2/2002 Sigma profile 45

◗ human resources manage- Let market forces rule ment and training, “Within the current system, the ◗ modernising the organisation ministries have the incentive to of the regional offices, and ask for more and more surveys without verifying other sources, ◗ the introduction of modern and it is up to us to deliver. We data collection and data cap- would like to cure the situation ture techniques. by making a clear distinction between public statistical Having the right goods, official statistics and and the power administrative information. The latter two would be the respon- As the peer review pointed out, sibility of the ministries who possible friction in the statistical could then decide to drop offi- system may arise from the fact cial statistics surveys or to ask that although the KSH plays a the KSH or any other organisa- leading role in shouldering the tion to deliver the data. This responsibility for methodology, gives both partners more free- it does not have outspoken dom – the ‘what’ and ‘how’ enforcement powers. and ‘how much’ will be subject to discussion.” It means that the Within the Hungarian statistical KSH will have to compete with system, a number of statistics private enterprises, but Mr are, in fact, carried out by min- Mellár is confident that his Witness of the past – the building that hosts the KSH is probably one of the most beautiful istries and the central bank. This office can stand up to competi- ‘homes of statistics’ in Europe. requires strong coordination in tion. order to ensure consistency and quality of the statistics produced The very cumbersome proce- Back in time by the different actors. Given its dure of setting up the annual central place within the statistical statistical programme has also The first attempt at establishing a national statistical service in system, only the KSH can fulfil been raised by the peers. The Hungary in 1848 was not a lasting success. After the failure in this coordinating role, but its annual programme containing the struggle for independence from Austria, it was dissolved scope is restricted to bilateral the compulsory data collection only one year later. contacts and agreements. projects are subject to a legal act in which the questionnaires Following a compromise with the Austrian monarchy to estab- To this can be added that the need to be included. Not only lish an independent Hungarian administration, a statistical ministries are in a better posi- is this procedure rather exten- office with more or less the same tasks as today’s KSH, the tion to influence the statistical sive and detailed, but it also acronym for Központi Statisztikai Hivatal, was established in programme. They enjoy the takes a lot of time to prepare 1867. A few years later, in 1874, a first legislative act on the right to suggest surveys to be and does not give the statistical organisation of national statistics went through Parliament. included in the national statisti- office much room for manoeu- cal programme, on which the vre. Under the Communist regime, the KSH fulfilled the informa- state secretaries give their opin- tion needs of a centrally planned economy. But Hungary was ion before passing it on to “Almost two years for prepar- also the first country of the Eastern Bloc countries to experi- Parliament for adoption. This is ing a new survey just doesn’t ment with Western style macroaccounts. Already in 1968, it why the KSH is sometimes give us enough flexibility to started to calculate macro accounts not only according to the obliged to carry out surveys react to newly arising needs”, Communist Material Product System (MPS) but also in paral- under the heading ‘official sta- affirms Mr Mellár. “For this rea- lel to the Western system of national accounts. tistics’, which are in fact admin- son, we will try and get the go- istrative information. ahead from the government to This gave the KSH a relative advantage and made it easier to launch a limited number of com- adapt to the new statistical needs of the market economy To illustrate the numbers pulsory surveys beyond the emerging at the beginning of the 1990s. involved, of the 500 projects annual programme. included in the compulsory The Statistical Act of 1993, which builds on the tradition of statis- data collection programme, “In addition, I would like to see tical laws in Hungary, aims at giving statistics a stable legal footing around 300 are carried out on the National Statistics Council and at enabling it to fulfil its role in today’s society. behalf of ministries. transformed into a supervisory Sigma profile S IGMA 2/2002 46

body, which controls and evalu- “The current structure”, Mr ates our operations. Currently, Mellár explains, “is based on a its role is restricted to assisting data collection system, which is in the setting up of the statistical neither efficient nor up to date. programme and to giving The new methods of electronic advice. But I believe this meas- data collection will swallow up ure would contribute to gaining fewer resources in data pro- public trust and be in our best cessing. We cannot insist on interest.” maintaining the old methods. I prefer to start thinking proac- Just who’s boss tively about a reasonable solu- around here? tion, ourselves, than to twiddle our thumbs for a change to be Next on Mr Mellár’s checklist imposed upon us from outside. is a reform of the Office’s operational system. One part “On the other hand, we will of it will be to introduce a need more people in analysis, project-based management dissemination and methodology. system instead of the hierar- People realise how essential this chical system currently in is and understand that they have place. Not only boosting effi- to learn and take on new skills.” Budapest”s Chain Bridge links the two cities Buda and Pest ciency and more flexibility, it will also mean better financial A moving target management, particularly for the statistical acquis. Trade sta- annual figure, which gives us allocating the budget to “Changing circumstances and tistics has recently been taken better control over the process.” diverse projects. emerging user needs require over from the Ministry of constant readjustment. We Economic Affairs, which gives No sooner has one goal been The second part concerns the have had to catch up a great the KSH not only full method- achieved than another one is structure and staff allocation of deal before satisfying the statis- ological responsibility for this set – this seems to describe the regional offices. For a rela- tical acquis, which is anyway a core area. It also puts it in a bet- Hungary’s first statistician best. tively small country, Hungary moving target. But we are ter position to prepare for “For several years, we had to has a fairly large number of there, or almost … ” Intrastat, the trade statistics sys- devote all our financial, human county offices. In the long term, tem for the common market. and psychological resources to a reduction in the number of The KSH is currently examining methodological development regional offices will be the last few potholes in the road A solution has also been found and harmonisation. With our inevitable. towards full compliance with for the very delicate question of plate full of changes in statistics, how public deficit and debt sta- we perceived the stability of the tistics are being handled. organisational structure as an The KSH currently has a staff of around 1 900, half of them working in Statistics on public deficit and asset, and felt that ushering in the Budapest headquarters and the other spread throughout the 19 county debt in Hungary are prepared more changes would be coun- directorates. The central organisation, planning, methodological work and most by the Ministry of Finance, terproductive. Now that we can of the analytical and dissemination activity are concentrated in the headquar- which over the past few years see light at the end of the tun- ters, whereas the county offices mostly take care of data collection. The coun- have continued to apply its own nel, we have to address organ- ty offices are also an important focal point for administration and the users in methods. isational and management the counties. issues and introduce modern Mr Mellár seems relieved: “The management solutions, which Statistical activity is generally governed by the Statistics Act adopted in 1993, new Minister (after the elections can in the future provide us with last amended in 1999. It defines the KSH as an independent organisation with- in May 2002) announced that additional resources.” in the public administration and provides for the President and Deputy they would report debt and Presidents to be appointed and dismissed by the Prime Minister. deficit figures in accordance Perceiving change as a chance with ESA 95. The KSH will pro- rather than as a threat is cer- Population 10 million vide methodological informa- tainly a virtue that helps to keep KSH central office County offices tion and instructions, and the a cool head for mastering future Number of staff 917 1 020 Ministry will from next year challenges and achieving an Tertiary education 63% 42% onwards report monthly and ambitious goal – to be one day Staff aged 30 and below* 19% 15% quarterly budgetary deficit fig- among the best reputed statisti- Staff over 50 years* 35% 32% ures. We will check this infor- cal offices in Europe, if not * (Management and civil servants only) mation and produce the official throughout the world. ■ S IGMA 2/2002 Focus on Member States 47

In August 2003, reunited Berlin – a city which many people, and not only statistics of the host country – Berliners, consider to be Germany’s most exciting city – will host the most impor- “Official statistics in Germany tant forum for statisticians of all disciplines from around the world, the world con- under five different political systems“ and “Some German gress of the International Statistical Institute (ISI). academic statisticians of the 20th century“ – will no doubt be one of the main attractions. The world of statistics A session of the best papers from developing countries is also planned, along with a fur- ther session in which the ISI meets in Berlin President, the Australian, Dennis Trewin, will invite par- orldwide, this scientific place exactly 150 years ago, The German organising com- ticularly prominent representa- Wassociation counts some in 1853. mittee will be responsible for tives of the statistical world to 5 000 members from all fields arranging the wide variety of give papers. of statistics. Vital for the devel- As well as celebrating these contributed papers and sched- opment of statistical methods two anniversaries, the uling them along with the Outstanding statistical person- and processes, it helps to pro- German organisers especially invited papers, for which the alities from all over the world mote their world-wide applica- want to take advantage of the ISI Secretariat is responsible. have been asked to speak, tion through international opportunities presented by and their invited papers are cooperation. It is the only insti- such a large-scale event to fos- No exclusive club expected to be among the tution, which can look beyond ter the public image of statis- highlights of the meeting. the confines of the individual tics and to present their own According to Günter Kopsch, disciplines and transcend all country to the rest of the who vice-chairs the National Involving developing national boundaries. world, to show what it is Organising Committee, the countries more capable of doing. meeting will follow the trend Many forums and groups of of the past few years and One of the ISI’s declared aims various kinds exist for the They are expecting around organise the programme to is to strengthen links with stat- exchange of ideas worldwide 2 500 participants, who, dur- appeal to users such as busi- isticians from the developing in different subject areas, and ing the seven days of the con- nesses, associations and the and transition countries, and most countries have a statisti- ference, will be able to listen media, scheduling the relevant for this reason, the ISI is cal society for interdisciplinary to papers from the whole sta- events as close together as awarding its own prize, the discussions. However, only the tistical spectrum, present the possible. The ISI congress is Jan Tinbergen award. ISI can offer a combination of latest findings and hold dis- no exclusive club. both – a worldwide interdisci- cussions with colleagues from Various arrangements have plinary forum. the same or different subject Along with the broad range of been made to ensure that fields. topics, the two sessions on the young colleagues from the The most important platform is the biennial world con- gress, at which statisticians can gather information on the latest developments in statis- tics and discuss this new knowledge through personal contacts.

Two causes for celebration

Exactly 100 years after the first – and so far only – inter- national conference of statisti- cians in Germany, an ISI con- gress is now being arranged here for August 2003. The first ever worldwide confer- ence of statisticians took Focus on Member States S IGMA 2/2002 48

Welcome to Berlin

In 1903, Germany hosted a Session of the ISI people and their cultures. This has become far for the first and, so far, last time. Exactly more than just a good old tradition. 100 years later, the 54th ISI Session will be held again in Berlin, the capital of reunited To keep the flame of this universal idea Germany. flickering, and on behalf of the International Statistical Institute and the National Dramatic events and worldwide changes, both Organising Committee, I would like to invite for the worse and for the better, and in which you to take part in the 54th ISI session in Germany has had a considerable share, have Berlin from August 13th – 20th, 2003. left their mark upon this last century. In an age when technology and economy Nevertheless, the International Statistical around the world are becoming ever Institute has never departed from its original more closely interlinked, the need for idea of inviting statisticians from all countries global cooperation in the field of statistics and continents to come together every two is greater than ever … years, not only to exchange their professional knowledge and findings, but also to get to Hans Günther Merk – Chairman of the know the various regions of our earth, their National Organising Committee

developing countries do not ably priced accommodation and transition countries in Anyone interested in the con- have to forego the chance to in government guest-houses is 1999 and the 18% notched gress, whether a member of take part for want of finan- being offered especially for up in Seoul in 2001. the ISI or not, can find informa- cial backing: the German this group, and funding is tion, including the outline organisers and the ISI, for being made available from An extensive programme of schedule, on the Internet under example, will pay the expen- the ISI’s development fund, tutorials is being arranged in www.isi-2003.de, together ses of 25 to 30 participants. from the World Bank and connection with the con- with details of registration, fees, from the Statistical Society of gress, and satellite meetings accommodation, etc. You may In the offices of the National Japan. and short courses will be register without obligation up to Organising Committee, which held both before and after- the end of February. Printed is housed at the Federal Since Berlin is a particularly wards to accompany the sci- versions of Information Bulletin Statistical Office in Wies- attractive location for the entific programme. No 1 can be obtained upon baden and in Berlin, and countries of Central and request. A second information where seven colleagues work Eastern Europe, which are There will be a parallel exhi- bulletin with further details will full time, further ways are currently in transition, the bition on “Statistics, Infor- then be sent in March to all being considered to make it organisers expect at least to mation and Networks“ and those who have pre-registered, easier for statisticians from equal, if not to exceed, the innovations in information so that people can formally developing countries to take Helsinki figure of 16% of par- technology which are rele- register for the congress – also part. For example, reason- ticipants from developing vant to statistics. via the Internet.

http://www.cbs.nl/isi/ Established in 1885, the It is organised around commit- The ISI contributes largely to been adopted by the UN International Statistical tees and sections with elected, ex- international cooperation in Statistical Commission and have Institute (ISI) is one of the officio (the Chief Statisticians) organising and participating in subsequently influenced many world’s oldest international sci- and corporate members such as conferences and bodies of inter- statistical laws throughout the entific associations. Fully national statistical societies. The national organisations. world. autonomous, it seeks to devel- sections reflect the ISI’s approach op and improve statistical to integrate a wide number of Through the publication of a sci- The ISI has consultative status methods and their application fields under the statistical entific journal, it spreads knowl- with the United Nations through the promotion of umbrella, ranging from mathe- edge about new and best meth- Economic and Social Council international activity and coop- matical statistics and probability, ods in statistics. One of its major (Ecosoc) and with the United eration. The permanent office statistical computing and surveys achievements is clearly the ISI Nations Educational, Scientific of the ISI is situated in to official statistics and statistical Declaration of Professional and Cultural Organisation Voorburg, the Netherlands. education. Ethics. These principles have (Unesco). S IGMA 2/2002 Focus on Member States 49

On the menu (invited papers) over a very around four to six of which are An extensive social programme, short period of time is merely invited paper sessions. with some events free of charge, The scientific programme cov- one of the challenges facing the will also be the chance for statis- ers the whole range of statistical organisers. In the two to three Along with the scientific ticians from all over the world fields. Scheduling the 600 to time slots allotted to the scien- exchange of ideas, the two-yearly to get to know the new ‘old 900 expected contributed pap- tific programme every day, par- meetings are also used for the ISI Berlin’ and ensure that the con- ers, plus the 300 or so papers to ticipants can select from up to General Assembly and other ference will also be a social gath- be given by invited speakers 14 parallel sessions on offer, administrative business. ering.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday August 11 August 12 August 13 August 14 August 15 August 16 August 17 August 18 August 19 August 20 Administr. Administr. Administr. Administr. Administr. 07.30 Meetings Meetings Meetings Meetings Meetings 09.00 Scientific Scientific Scientific Scientific Scientific Scientific 10.00 Meetings Meetings Meetings Meetings Meetings Meetings 11.15 Registration Lunch Break Lunch Break Scientific Lunch Break Lunch Break Lunch Break Administr. Administr. Meetings Administr. Administr. Administr. 12.00 Meetings Meetings Meetings Meetings Meetings Preparation Preparation Scientific Scientific President’s IP Scientific Scientific 13.00 and Meetings Meetings Excursions Meeting Meetings Meetings Registration 15.15 Scientific Scientific ISI General Scientific Scientific Meetings Meetings Assembly Meetings Meetings 16.00 Opening Ceremony Excursions 17.30 Administr. Administr. Administr. Administr. 18.00 Meetings Meetings Meetings Meetings Welcome 19.00 Reception Concert 20.00 Reception Farewell 21.00 Party 22.00

Facts in brief Federal Statistical Office has seven officials and is ◗ In the past, the biggest and the Offices of the assisted by a congress man- contingents have come ◗ In 1997, after the official Länder of Berlin and Bran- agement agency (as well as from USA and Japan, fol- invitation was issued, a denburg, and more than by the various departments lowed by the ‘large’ EU National Organising Com- twenty national institutions of the Federal Statistical countries. ■ mittee began work, initially which, as producers or Office). as an informal grouping. users, all have links with the The Committee is made up world of statistics. ◗ The budget has been guar- of representatives of the anteed by the Federal ◗ German Statistical Society, An office set up in the Government, as part of the Photo on page 47: research institutes and uni- Federal Statistical Office is budget of the Federal Press- and Information Office of versities, as well as the in charge of organisation. It Statistical Office. the Land Berlin/G. Schneider Focus on Eurostat S IGMA 2/2002 50

After eight years (1994-2001), Eurostat and the Member States have decided to pull the plug on the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) project and replace it from 2003 with a new instrument, EU-SILC (Statistics on Income and Living Conditions). PALOMA SEOANE, head of project of EU-SILC, explains the reasons for turning over a new leaf. A new dawn breaks for social statistics

tatisticians and users strong support was given to source for comparative statis- and other living condi- Salike will agree that the the eradication of poverty tics on income distribution tions, and European Community House- and to a better understand- and social exclusion at hold Panel (ECHP) has ing of social exclusion and to European level, particularly in ◗ Longitudinal data per- offered a unique information the central request for more the context of the ‘Programme taining to individual-level source with a large range of timeliness. Thus, the content of Community action to changes over time, topics, standardised method- and timeliness of production encourage cooperation betw- observed periodically ology and procedures and a needed to be tailored een Member States to combat over a four year period longitudinal panel design. according to the fresher polit- social exclusion’ and for pro- which will be restricted to However, and there is no hid- ical needs and the existing ducing structural indicators on income, labour and a ing it, the panel has always set of variables reviewed. social cohesion for the annual limited set of non-mone- suffered from operational What was good about the spring report to the European tary variables of non- problems, of which the most ECHP – its strengths and the Council. monetary indicators of significant is data timeliness. experience gained from it – social exclusion. Others relate to initial are being saved from the It will provide two types of response and attrition rates shredding machine to devel- annual data: For both the cross-sectional and the non-participation of op its successor. and longitudinal components, Sweden. ◗ Cross-sectional data per- all household and personal A new social taining to a given time or data will be linkable. The political scene has also reference tool a certain time period with changed, particularly after variables on income, the Lisbon, Nice, Stockholm, EU-SILC is expected to poverty, social exclusion and Laeken summits, where become the EU reference

ECHP and SILC teams (from-left-to right): Jean Thill, Head of Unit Anne Clémenceau, Christine Wirtz, head of SILC-project Paloma Seoane, Laurence Damiani, Gérald Pieltain and Thierry Kruten S IGMA 2/2002 Focus on Eurostat 51

Furthermore, modules provid- efficient for both, cross-section- Council has been postponed to be available in December ing updated information in the al and longitudinal require- 2004, with a derogation for N+1. field of social exclusion will ments. On the other hand, the three countries (Germany, be included starting from integration of the new instru- Netherlands and the UK) to For the longitudinal compo- 2005. ment into established national start in 2005. This is under the nent, micro-data files at statistical systems should be condition that they supply Community level for data col- For the cross-sectional com- promoted. comparable data for the year lected up to year N will be ponent, the plans are to 2004 for the cross-sectional made available for scientific achieve the minimum effec- Where are we now? common EU indicators that purposes by the end of July tive sample size of around have been adopted by the N+2. 80 000 households in the EU The introduction of a legal Council before 1 January as a whole (86 000 includ- act for EU-SILC was decided 2003, in the context of the EU-SILC for whom? ing Iceland and Norway). and a draft SILC framework open method of coordination. The allocation of the EU sam- regulation approved by the One of the main uses of ECHP ple among countries repre- Commission in December Under the framework regula- data was the production of sents a compromise between 2001, which was adopted tion, Iceland will also launch structural indicators for the two objectives: the produc- by the European Parliament SILC in 2004, and, if all goes annual spring report to the tion of results at the level of at the first reading with some according to plan, the Cand- European Council. Four of individual countries, and pro- minor amendments in May idate Countries in 2005. them are based on ECHP duction for the EU as a 2002. A common position is data: distribution of income, whole. planned to be adopted by Fine-tuning necessary risk-of-poverty rate before and the Council targeted for after social transfers, and per- Requirements for the longitudi- January 2003. A pilot survey was launched sistent risk of poverty. Thus, nal data will be less impor- in 2002 in all the Member EU-SILC is expected to offer an tant. For this component, an In parallel, Eurostat and the States as well as in Norway, even greater data source for effective sample size of Member States are currently in order to test technical this project. around 60 000 households developing the instrument’s aspects of EU-SILC. However, (64 000 including Iceland technical aspects. More con- at the time of going to print, DG Employment – already and Norway) is planned. cretely, four Commission regu- only five countries have sent very much involved in ECHP lations (‘Sampling and tracing the micro-data files to work – will be the most More timely and flexible rules’, ‘Definitions’, ’List of pri- Eurostat. important regular user of EU- mary variables’ and ‘Field- SILC data for different proj- Since improving timeliness work and imputation aspects’) Based on the experience of ects with its plans to increase has been one of the tool’s are being developed. the pilot experiment, the diffi- both financial and human core objectives, and because culty of collecting some of the resources on this issue. it is universally recognised It is hoped that these regula- data – particularly gross that the longitudinal dimen- tions will be approved by the income at component level, Data are expected to be sion takes more time in data SPC in May 2003. Later on, health variables, and hous- used not only for poverty/ production, priority has been two Commission regulations ing costs – was observed. As social exclusion analysis, but given to the delivery of time- will be developed: one on the a result, some variables have also for issues such as gen- ly and comparable cross-sec- variables included in the mod- been dropped from the der pay gaps, labour analy- tional data. ules and another on the con- instrument and others refor- sis, child care and so on. tent of the quality reports. mulated. Another characteristic is flexi- Last but not least, the social bility in terms of data sources The EU-SILC project is planned For the cross-sectional compo- statistics research community and sampling design. Eurostat to be launched in 2003, on the nent, micro-data files at the – an extensive user of ECHP strongly encourages the use of basis of a ‘gentleman’s agree- Community level for the data data in the past – will also existing data sources, whether ment’, in six Member States collected during year N will make up a substantial pro- they are surveys or registers (Belgium, Denmark, Greece, be made available for scientif- portion of users. and the use of national sam- Ireland, Luxembourg, and ic proposes by the end of pling design. Austria) as well as in Norway. February N+2. In conclusion, EU-SILC will strengthen the fabric of social Nevertheless, an integrated Given the procedural time The social cohesion indica- statistics by offering what the design for those countries lags in the co-decision proce- tors based on the cross-sec- ECHP could not: mainly timeli- planning to launch a new dure, the starting date for the tional sample of year N that ness and flexibility of sources. operation is recommended by EU-SILC instrument under the will be included in the annu- Social research and policy- Eurostat. This design aims to framework regulation of the al Spring Report of year N+2 making will be all the better be the most cost effective and European Parliament and of the to the European Council will for it. ■ Focus on Eurostat S IGMA 2/2002 52

If you are one to forget birthdays … reach out for your agenda now and pencil in 15 to 21 May, 2003: Eurostat turns 50 and celebrates its jubilee – and 50 years of comparable, harmonised European statistics. And it wants to share the cele- brations with all those who have helped make Eurostat what it is today – and with those who will shape it tomorrow.

today’s European Statistical Eurostat, the Commission, System. other European institutions Happy and a host of other bodies A keen interest in Eurostat’s and statistical institutes. And history is what led former for some light relief, Eurostat Directors, Alain Luxembourg's renowned Chantraine and Alberto de 'Voices International' choir Michelis, to prepare a read- will also be there with their birthday, able and enjoyable biogra- lively and varied repertoire. phy looking back at Eurostat’s 50 years. But that’s not all! Other events include, on Saturday Eurostat Drawing on interviews, 17 May, a dinner dance for cameos and anecdotes, all Eurostat staff and their their work sets out to chart partners, and between 19 t’s 50 years since Eurostat In 1974, the first domain the 50-year timeline, bring- and 21 May, a range of Isaw the light of day as a was put in to the New ing out not only the tri- sports events, a rally and a statistical service for the Cronos database. umphs, but also the most quiz on Eurostat trivia. fledgling ‘European idea’ in challenging and painful 1953, when the first build- Then in 1988 – against the moments of this construction. To remember those who ing blocks of a European backdrop of accelerating have helped pioneer and community were put into European integration, the Events galore construct Eurostat, and for place with the European Single Market, Maastricht, those who don't mind letting Coal and Steel Community. the creation of the European A host of events is on the others see what they looked Economic Area (EEA), EU menu, making it a memo- like with baggy trousers and And it’s been 50 years of enlargement, German reuni- rable occasion – and both a thick-rimmed glasses in the hard grind and teamwork – fication and the creation of European institution and 60's and 70's, there will involving the National Economic and Monetary Luxemburgish event at the also be a 'family' album on Statistical Institutes, as well. Union and the European same time. The week-long show, with giggling guaran- Central Bank – Eurostat was festivities will open to the teed! The overarching task under- called upon by the sounds and melodies of the pinning Eurostat’s history Commission to provide a association 'Femmes In a nutshell, ‘let’s party’ will has been harmonising the high quality statistical sys- d'Europe' on Thursday 15 be very much the motto next statistics of 6 Member tem. May. 15-21 May. And why not: States, then 9, then 12 and 50 years of Eurostat is defi- 15. No mean feat when you Other key dates in its 50- Friday 16 May will be the nitely something worth cele- consider the differences year history include 1989, main celebratory day, brating. The Sigma team between countries. when the Statistical focussing on retrospectives also wishes to raise a toast Programme Committee of the past 50 years. In and inform readers that our In the 50, 60s and early (SPC) and the first statistical addition to His Royal next issue will be devoted to 70s, Eurostat’s development programme were set up, Highness Grand Duke Eurostat’s birthday. ■ was gigantic: the SEC 70 and 1990, when Eurostat Henri, Mr Juncker, the Prime system of economic was authorised to receive Minister of Luxembourg, and accounts and the NACE confidential data. European Commissioner nomenclature were intro- Pedro Solbes, participants, duced and most of the major These developments lay contributors and guests will surveys were set up. down the foundations of include figures from The future of the ESS S IGMA 2/2002 In this issue of Sigma… With new governance principles taking root, enlargement around the corner and the need for rapid EMU statistics, the European Statistical System has never had to look at itself in the mirror to such an extent. This is why in September 2002, the heads of the National Statistical Institutes and Eurostat came together to tackle the ques- tions in the Sicilian city of Palermo. In addition to presenting a selection of the papers given at the conference, we widen our lens to include several statisti- cal users' views and other initiatives that tie in with the elements discussed – and still under discussion. In the course of your reading, you will … ➤ see more clearly why the ESS needs to get its house in order, ➤ understand what's being done about it – including local initiatives, and ➤ find out what users have to say.

Yves Franchet, Eurostat’s Director-General, Employment, highlights the need to help opens this issue, giving way to Commission politicians understand statistics better. President Romano Prodi, who shares his With the ESS’ identity and visibility also high vision of statistics. Sigma – the bulletin of up on the agenda, Ruud Van Noort, European statistics produced in Getting down to the nitty-gritty issues, and Director-General of Statistics Netherlands, Luxembourg by Eurostat with the concept of ‘Europe First’ gathering pleads for making the ESS into a ‘statistical Chief editor momentum, Paul Champsaur, Director- authority’. Daniel Byk, Eurostat Director Amador Rodriguez Prieto General of INSEE, examines which areas responsible for dissemination, beats the drum for a common dissemination strategy. As an Assistant chief editor the ‘Europe First’ concept could be applied example of the dissemination work underway Philippe Bautier to. The ONS’ Len Cook also takes up the concept and shares some distinct ideas at national level, INE Portugal’s Pedro Editorial team about the future ESS. Campos shares his country’s experiences on Barbara Jakob, Glen Campbell an outreach project that makes statistics less of We then give over to a user, Swaha a yawn for schoolkids – future users of statis- Assistant Pattanaik of Reuters, who rates Virginie Schultz tics. European statistics from the point of view Layout of the media and financial markets. With enlargement drawing near, Tamás Claudia Daman Zooming in on the theme of the ESS’ rela- Mellár, Director-General of KSH Hungary, would like to see the Candidate Countries Cover tionship with users, Svein Longva, more involved in building the ESS. And DG Frédéric Guyon Director-General of Statistics Norway, Maurice Guyader urges us to focus on the public more, “mak- Enlargement’s gives his views on statistics – crucial for the enlargement Published by ing them our boss”. For Joachim Lamel, process. Office for Official Publications of the sealing a pact with the citizens is what is European Communities in order. Some of these ideas are, in fact, Rounding up Palermo, we select the hottest Catalogue number already being put into practice, as exempli- quotes from the roundtable and give the floor KS-AB-02-002-EN-C fied by Sabine Bechthold and Sylvia to Luigi Biggeri, Director of ISTAT, Yves © ECSC-EC-EAEC Zühlke of DESTATIS that is rolling out the Franchet, and Pedro Solbes, European Brussels • Luxembourg 2002 welcome mat for researchers. John Commissioner responsible for Eurostat, who Printed in Luxembourg Morley, of the Commission’s DG share some closing thoughts.

Views expressed in Sigma are those of the authors, not necessarily those of Also in this issue… the European Commission

Sigma is available free of charge With 10 countries poised to join the EU, we Eurostat’s Paloma Seoane explains how from: continue our new series of profiles with social statistics take a shot in the arm with EU- Eurostat Slovenia and Hungary. SILC. Press & Communication Team Bech A4/20 We also look at the World Congress of Finally, we raise a toast to Eurostat’s 50th L-2920 Luxembourg the International Statistical Institute anniversary in May 2003. Fax: +352 4301 35349 e-mail: [email protected] that will meet again in Berlin in 2003 – a cen- tury after the German capital last hosted the Philippe Bautier event. Assistant chief editor

We would like to thank all those who have contributed to this edition: Katalin Bálint, Toma Banovec, Sabine Bechtold, Luigi Biggeri, Daniel Byk, Pedro Campos, Paul Champsaur, Claudia Cingolani, Len Cook, Roberta Fontana, Maurice Guyader, Günter Kopsch, Joachim Lamel, Svein Longva, Tamás Mellár, John Morley, Annika Näslund, Swaha Pattanaik, Ruud van Noort, Paloma Seoane, Bernd Störtzbach, Nikolaus Wurm, Magdalena ebre and Sylvia Zühlke