Brussels, 15 February 2023

There were two main topics on the agenda. First there was a discussion on the proposal on population and housing (ESOP). Eurostat presented the impact assessment and the proposal, and the delegates shared their main ideas of the proposal and raised questions to Eurostat.

Second the European court of Auditors gave a presentation of the report European statistics – Potential to further improve quality. A few member states commented on the report. The outcome of the discussion will be presented orally in the Economic and Financial Committee - Sub-Committee on Statistics meeting.

The deadline for EP proposals for amendments of the regulation on new environmental economic accounts modules has been postponed to the beginning of March. The Swedish presidency is hoping to begin negotiations in May.

The presidency also gave a short report on the state of play with other regulations related to European statistics. For the Data act, the fifth compromise text is now under preparation. The proposal on data collection for short-term accommodation rental service is rapidly moving forward. The input from the delegates on the last CWPS meeting was valuable and the Presidency has drafted a general approach which will be submitted to Coreper on 17th February.

The next meeting of the Council Working Party on Statistics is scheduled for Wednesday, 15 March, 2023 in Brussels.