Launch of the 7th Annual Report of the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB)
The European Union is unique in the degree to which its policies are based on statistics. The quality of European statistics needs to be ensured through compliance with high professional standards in all Member States. The Report, published by the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB), examines how the producers of European statistics comply with professional principles and indicators set out in the European Statistics Code of Practice.
In its 2015 Report ESGAB reflects on trust in statistics and how it is connected to recognising official statistics as a valuable public good. It advocates multiannual resource planning and sustainable funding so that resources can be balanced with current statistical demands and, most importantly, invested in future developments. On the production side, Eurostat, the national statistical institutes (NSIs) and other national authorities (ONAs) must be able to demonstrate the value of their statistical outputs and services, e.g. by adopting effective costaccounting systems.
ESGAB further urges the European Statistical System to remain vigilant in facing the changing landscape of statistics and its implications for the quality of statistics. In addition to resource constraints, these include 'data revolution' and regionalisation of statistical systems in some member states. The Report also serves a monitoring purpose following the peer review of Eurostat in 2014 and proposes additional actions to improve the functioning of Eurostat and to strengthen its role within the European Commission.
ESGAB is an independent board composed of seven senior members such as former heads of national statistical offices, ministers and high-level academics. Its work focuses on strategic issues and recommendations for the EU statistical community and governments to uphold trustworthiness, impartiality and quality of European statistics. ESGAB reports directly to the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament on how the European Statistical System (i.e. Eurostat, national statistical institutes and other national authorities) implement the European Statistics Code of Practice.
