The European Parliament adopted by 433 votes to 116, with 23 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics on population and housing, amending Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013.
The European Parliament’s position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure amends the proposal as follows:
The role of European statistics on population and housing
Parliament highlighted that European statistics on population and housing play a central role in policy-making and decision-making processes and, as such, are required for the design, implementation and evaluation of Union policies, in particular those addressing the demographic change, the green and digital transformations, the framework for the promotion of energy efficiency, economic, social and territorial cohesion, the implementation of the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda.
Hard-to-reach population groups
European statistics on population and housing should address the persistent lack of data on hard-to-reach population groups, such as people residing in institutions (e.g. military institutions, penal and correctional institutions, school and university dormitories, religious institutions, hospitals, residential care centres, including institutions for disabled people and orphans), people aged over 75, disabled people, homeless people, people with a migrant background and stateless people.
In order to bridge that data divide and to prevent social and economic inequalities arising from it, Member States should develop strategies and targeted solutions for collecting data about hard-to-reach population groups, in particular with regard to locating, contacting, persuading and interviewing such populations.
Members introduced a definition of ‘hard-to-reach population groups’, i.e. groups of individuals for whom there is a real or perceived barrier to full and representative inclusion in statistical data collection.
Statistical requirements
European statistics on population and housing should cover the following domains: (a) demography; (b) housing; (c) families; and (d) households.
Statistics in these domains should be organised into data sets following the topics and detailed topics as set out in the Annex. Where the statistical unit is a person, the data sets should be disaggregated by sex and age, and where relevant by other characteristics. Member States should aim to continuously develop innovative sources and methods and use them to improve statistics.
Timely access to and reuse of administrative data
National authorities in charge of administrative data sources relevant for the purposes of this Regulation should allow reuse of these data in time and frequency sufficient to produce and submit statistics within the deadlines and compliant with the specific quality requirements according to this Regulation. National statistical authorities and the national authorities in charge of the administrative records should establish the necessary cooperation mechanisms for the timely and free of charge access to those records.
For the purpose of producing statistics on the detailed topic of energy related characteristics of buildings, national statistical authorities should have timely and regular access to the national databases on energy performance of buildings and should be allowed to reuse administrative data from those databases.
For the purpose of producing population breakdowns by sex, national statistical institutes should use information available in national administrative data sources.
Data sharing
The Commission (Eurostat) and the national statistical authorities that use this secure data sharing infrastructure for the processing of personal data should be considered as joint controllers for the processing of personal data in the secure data sharing infrastructure.
Pilot and feasibility studies
The Commission (Eurostat) should, where necessary and appropriate for the purposes of this Regulation, launch pilot and feasibility studies that aim to:
- assess the availability of data sources and enhancing methods for providing statistics on the disability of persons and testing disaggregating statistics, including their comparability, in accordance with national law and practice on data protection and disclosure control;
- develop new methodologies and statistical techniques to reinforce quality and enhance information about hard-to-reach populations;
- reduce discrepancies in data of migration flows and ensuring their better comparability;
- reduce possible undercounting or double counting of people.
Financing
For the implementation of the Regulation, a financial contribution from the Single Market Programme should be made available to the national statistical authorities. In addition, the national statistical authorities should apply for support from other applicable EU financial programmes in accordance with the rules of those programmes.