Editorial ¾ The 50th Anniversary of the Treaty of Rome and official statistics ......... 2 Highlights ¾ Euro-IND statistical news............................................................................ 4 ¾ Insight on: Celebrating Europe! A Statistical portrait of the European Union 2007 .................................................................................................. 10 Newsfront ¾ News from the Member States .................................................................. 11 ¾ Forthcoming events.................................................................................... 14 ¾ Cool tools and sites: Celebrating Europe! 50thAnniversary of the treaty of Rome........................................................................................................ 20 ¾ Webtrends................................................................................................... 22 ¾ Contact us.................................................................................................... 22 EUROINDICATORS Editorial ¾ The 50th Anniversary of the Treaty of Rome and official statistics The 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome is a good reason to look back at what official European statisticians have achieved over the last fifty years. In the early days they put together those national statistics that helped to shape specific EU policies, initially for coal and steel and later for agriculture. For the customs union they harmonised external trade statistics, and for the Common Market they evolved the basis for European production statistics. In the 1970s they began to develop Community classifications and to lay the foundations for the harmonisation of encompassing data sets such as national accounts and the balance of payments. Work on environment statistics started in the 1980s. Considerable progress has also been achieved in the harmonisation of labour market statistics in the 1990s. EMU with its convergence criteria and other statistical requirements, however, has led in the 1990s to a real quantum leap in Community statistics. The European System of Accounts was adopted in 1996. Special attention was devoted to general government accounts in the context of the Growth and Stability Pact. Short-term statistics improved from 1998 onwards, the Harmonised Consumer Price Index became fully operational in time for the introduction of the Euro and Euroindicators are supporting now the monetary policy conduct. Over the last couple of years new methods have been tried (e.g. European sampling, flash estimation) and new policy relevant indicator families have been put together (structural indicators, sustainability indicators, etc.) supporting the conduct of Community policies (e.g. in the context of the Lisbon programme). These are just a few examples of Community statistics, but the embedding of official statistics into a Community framework is far from complete. After all, we are not just seeing new areas of policy for which official statistics are to be made available: at European level we are also seeing new forms of cooperation developing for which official statistics are required. With official statistics becoming ever more European over the last 50 years adequate political, organisational and operational structures were put in place1. In the late 1980s the Council established a planning committee2 to discuss Multi-annual Statistical Programmes3 proposed by the European Commission and to be adopted later by a decision of the European Parliament and the Council. These EU programmes have an integrative impact that should not be underestimated, since the national statistical institutes involved are now enhancing their 1 For an encompassing history of Eurostat see: Alberto De Michelis and Alain Chantraine: MEMOIRS OF EUROSTAT, fifty years serving Europe; Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, 2003 2 COUNCIL DECISION OF 19 JUNE 1989 ESTABLISHING A COMMITTEE ON THE STATISTICAL PROGRAMMES OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (89/382/EEC, EURATOM), OJ L 181, 28.6.1989. 3 The current Community statistical programme — the fourth (see DECISION No 2367/2002/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 December 2002) — relates to the period 2003 to 2007 and focuses on economic and monetary union, enlargement, competitiveness, sustainable development and the social agenda. Newsletter –March 2007 2 EUROINDICATORS statistical services in the same fields. The European statistical law4 has established an organisational and legislative framework for the production of official statistics for European Union purposes. Finally in 2005 the European Statistics Code of Practice has been adopted5. All these rules and principles ensure that Community statistics can be drawn up for assisting the formulation, application, monitoring and assessment of Community policies. The production of official statistics is therefore no longer a purely national matter. Official statisticians throughout the European Union (and even beyond) are now working within the context of a European Statistical System that integrates both the official national and European statistical authorities. This system is now solidly based on (1) the subsidiarity and proportionality principle, (2) guidelines, priorities and objectives enshrined in a common programme, (3) common standards and definitions as far as possible, as well as uniform sources and harmonised methods if need be or where appropriate, (4) common legal bases for Community statistics, and sometimes also further-reaching voluntary agreements, (5) data supply programmes established by law and respecting the confidentiality of individual data, and (6) the respect of fifteen principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice. Official statisticians in the European Union have lived up to the European challenge and can thus look back with pride at an impressive record, but the European challenge will continue for them. More countries will have to be integrated into the system and the many countries will have to learn to speak with one voice at world level. New topics will have to be dealt with by everybody and costs will have to be brought down together. New methods will have to be applied and new sources exploited. In the end a truly European System will have to emerge that provides a robust perception framework for the European Union as a whole and all its components by doing more than summing up national statistics. Hervé CARRÉ Eurostat General Director 4 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) NO 322/97 OF 17 FEBRUARY 1997 ON COMMUNITY STATISTICS, OJ L 52, 22.2.1997. 5 The European Statistics Code of Practice has been adopted by the Statistical Programme Committee on 24 February 2005 and promulgated in the Commission Recommendation of 25 May 2005 on the independence, integrity and accountability of the national and Community statistical authorities. Newsletter –March 2007 3 EUROINDICATORS Highlights ¾ Euro-IND statistical news Balance of Payments EU25 current account deficit 79.4 bn euro - 65.8 bn euro surplus on trade in services The EU25 external current account recorded a deficit of 6.9 billion euro in the fourth quarter of 2006, compared with a deficit of 26.3 billion euro in the fourth quarter of 2005 and a deficit of 21.7 billion euro in the third quarter of 2006. In the fourth quarter of 2006 the EU25 external balance of trade in services recorded a surplus of 16.8 billion euro compared with a surplus of 16.3 billion euro in the fourth quarter of 2005 and a surplus of 16.6 billion euro in the third quarter of 2006. Preliminary results for 2006, compared with 2005, show an increase in the EU25 external current account deficit (-79.4 bn euro compared with -63.8 bn euro) and an increase in the surplus of the services account (65.8 bn euro compared with 56.3 bn euro). These provisional data, issued by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, will be subject to revision. Preliminary results for 2006 – News release N°35/2007 – 9 March 2007 Consumer prices Euro area annual inflation stable at 1.8% - EU stable at 2.1% Euro area annual inflation was 1.8% in February 2007, unchanged compared with January. A year earlier the rate was 2.3%. Monthly inflation was 0.3% in February 2007. EU annual inflation was 2.1% in February 2007, unchanged compared with January. A year earlier the rate was 2.2%. Monthly inflation was 0.3% in February 2007. These figures come from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. Inflation in the EU Member States In February 2007, the lowest annual rates were observed in Malta (0.8%), France, Cyprus and Finland (all 1.2%), and the highest rates in Hungary (9.0%), Latvia (7.2%), Bulgaria and Estonia (both 4.6%). Compared with January, annual inflation rose in thirteen Member States, remained stable in one and fell in twelve. The lowest 12-month averages up to February 2007 were in Finland (1.3%), Poland (1.4%), the Netherlands and Sweden (1.6% each); the highest were in Bulgaria (6.9%), Latvia (6.6%) and Romania (5.8%). Euro area The main components with the highest annual rates in February 2007 were alcohol & tobacco (4.1%), education (3.3%) and housing (3.1%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-1.7%), recreation & culture (0.2%) and transport (1.0%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, restaurants & cafés and tobacco (+0.10 percentage points each) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while fuels for transport (-0.22) and telecommunications (-0.11) had the biggest