The Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union ends on 31 December. The Slovenian Presidency team would like to thank all those involved in the work of the Council Working Party on Statistics for their excellent, professional and constructive cooperation over the past six months, and wishes the French team every success for the incoming Presidency.
On 17 December 2021, Slovenia officially handed over the Presidency of the Council of the EU in the field of statistics to France. The handover meeting was attended by the representatives of the current Trio Presidency of Germany, Portugal and Slovenia, the incoming Trio Presidency of France, Czech Republic and Sweden, and Eurostat. Due to the epidemiological situation, the handover meeting took place in the form of a videoconference.
Slovenia presented the final Presidency report of its. The Trio Presidency partners Germany-Portugal-Slovenia reflected on the results achieved. The current Chair of the Council Working Party on Statistics, Mr. Tomaž Smrekar, handed over the EU Council Presidency in the field of statistics to the incoming French Chair, Mr. Jean-Luc Tavernier of the Council Working Party on Statistics. The participants also exchanged experiences and lessons learned. France congratulated the Slovenian Presidency on their achievements and presented the work programme and the priorities of the incoming Trio Presidency France-Czech Republic-Sweden. The trio partners concluded the presentation by pointing out their plans and expectations.
The Slovenian Presidency thanked the Trio partners for their cooperation and support, and wished the utmost success to French colleagues.
At the 12-13 December 2021 meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council, the ministers adopted an amendment to Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 as regards the EU’s contribution for integrated farm statistics under the 2021–2027 financial framework. This regulation aims to ensure that further financial support is provided to Member States to collect data on the structure of agricultural holdings by fixing the related financial envelopes for the 2021–2027 period.
Following the political agreement reached with the co-legislator at the trilogue on 29 November 2021, the Special Committee on Agriculture at its meeting on 10 December 2021 confirmed the final compromise text of the Proposal for a Regulation of the EP and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) no 138/2004 as regards regional economic accounts for agriculture. The Chair of the Special Committee on Agriculture sent the letter to the Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development informing him that, should the European Parliament adopt its position at first reading, in accordance with Article 294(3) TFEU, in that form, and subject to revision by the lawyer/linguists of both institutions, the Council would, in accordance with Article 294(4) TFEU, approve the European Parliament's position and the act would be adopted in the wording which corresponds to the European Parliament's position.
The Special Committee on Agriculture on 10 December 2021 also adopted a mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament on the proposal for a Regulation on statistics on agricultural input and output and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1165/2008, (EC) No 543/2009 and (EC) No 1185/2009, and Council Directive 96/16/EC.
The fifth meeting of the Working Party on Statistics under the Slovenian Presidency took place on 1 December 2021 in the form of a videoconference. The participants discussed the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistics on agricultural inputs and outputs (SAIO).
The Slovenian Presidency presented the second proposal of the SAIO compromise text and conducted a detailed "article-by-article" discussion. Additional clarifications regarding the proposal were also presented. After a detailed discussion, the Presidency examined the support for the whole compromise proposal. The starting point for the discussion was the informal document containing the second compromise proposal for the entire SAIO Regulation, which was prepared by the Presidency based on additional technical discussions with Member States. The discussion of the compromise proposal was once again very constructive. The final discussion showed that the Presidency compromise proposal enjoys the support of most Member States, but that some minor technical corrections to the text will be needed. The Presidency will carry out all activities that could contribute to adopting a mandate for negotiations with the EP during the Slovenian Presidency.
Under any other business, the Presidency reported on the trialogue held on 29 November 2021. The trialogue reached a political agreement on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending the Regulation of the EP and the Council on economic accounts for agriculture, which has yet to be formally approved by the Council and the European Parliament.
At the meeting, the Presidency also informed delegates on the progress in adopting other dossiers directly or indirectly related to the work of the Working Party.
As this was the last meeting of this Working Party under the Slovenian Presidency, the French Presidency also presented its program and priorities. France will be the first country to hold the presidency in the next presidency trio (France-Czechia-Sweden) between January 2022 and June 2023.
A High-level meeting of Directors-General of the European Statistical System (ESS) on “Timeliness Matters: Ways to Stay Ahead” was organized on 18 and 19 November 2021 in the framework of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU, jointly by the Trio Presidencies (Germany-Portugal-Slovenia) and Eurostat. The event was organized in a hybrid form with physical participants at the premises of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SURS) in Ljubljana.
The meeting addressed challenges, methods and activities to improve timeliness as an important element of quality of statistical information for better responding to user needs.
The meeting chaired by Mr. Tomaz Smrekar, Director-General of SURS, was organized in three main sessions.
The first session, chaired by Germany, Mr. Christoph Unger, Vice-President of Destatis, addressed the scope and drivers of timeliness and tried to identify common trends and practices that could be reused across the ESS. The discussion was based on three presentations of Directors-General of ESS statistical offices: Mr. Markus Sovala (Statistic Finland), Mr. Tobias Thomas (Statistics Austria) and Mr. Jean-Luc Tavernier (INSEE, France).
In the second session, chaired by Portugal, Mr. Francisco Lima, President of Statistics Portugal, three experts – Mr. Marko Grobelnik (Jožef Stefan Institute, Slovenia), Ms. Linet Kwamboka (Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data) and Ms. Monica Scannapieco (ISTAT, Italy) – presented their views on the role of innovation to support timeliness, how to support timeliness through partnerships and how to strengthen timeliness during the statistical production process.
In both sessions, participants had the opportunity to discuss in depth in smaller groups the key aspects of timeliness outlined in the plenary sessions.
The third session, organized as a panel discussion and chaired by Ms. Mariana Kotzeva, Director-General of Eurostat, provided a space to discuss the way forward and priorities for future work within the ESS.
The meeting was attended by 28 delegations from statistical offices.
The fourth meeting of the Working Party on Statistics under the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU took place on 10 November 2021 in the form of a videoconference. At the meeting, the proposal for the Regulation on Statistics on Agricultural Inputs and Outputs (so-called SAIO regulation) was discussed.
At the meeting, the Slovenian Presidency presented the first proposal of the compromise text of the SAIO regulation. Clarifications regarding the proposed compromise solutions were also presented. The Presidency led the discussion about the proposal as a whole. The starting point for discussing the proposal was an informal document containing a compromise proposal of the entire SAIO regulation, which the Presidency prepared based on preliminary and technical discussions with Member States. The discussion of the compromise proposal was once again very constructive. The Presidency took note of the comments made by the Member States, while the Commission informed the participants about the planned use of data on permanent grassland. The Presidency will carry out all activities that can contribute to adopting a mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament during the Slovenian presidency.
At the meeting, the Presidency informed delegates about the state of play regarding other dossiers directly or indirectly related to the work of the Working Party.
The next meeting of the Working Party on Statistics is scheduled for 1 December 2021.
The third meeting of the Working Party on Statistics under the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU took place on 6 October 2021 in the form of a videoconference. At the meeting, the proposal for the Regulation on Statistics on Agricultural Inputs and Outputs (so-called SAIO regulation) was discussed.
The Working Party on Statistics continued to study the proposal for the SAIO regulation. At the meeting, parts of the text referring to the provisions on plant protection products (Articles 2, 4, 7 and 8) and the Annex of the SAIO proposal were discussed. The starting point for discussing these two elements of the SAIO proposal was the informal document prepared by the Presidency on the basis of prior discussions with Member States. The discussion on the SAIO proposal was again very constructive. The Presidency took note of the comments made by Member States and the Commission regarding the provisions on data on plant protection products and the Annex of the SAIO proposal and will strive to continue the activities related to the proposal in the best possible way. The proposal for the SAIO regulation will continue to be discussed at the next meeting of the Working Party on Statistics.
The next meeting of the Working Party on Statistics is scheduled for 10 November 2021.
The second meeting of the Working Party on Statistics within the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU took place on 23 September 2021 in the form of a videoconference. At the meeting, two issues were discussed: a proposal to amend the IFS EU regulation on integrated farm statistics and a proposal for the SAIO regulation.
The Commission presented for the first time the proposal to amend the IFS EU regulation on integrated farm statistics, which was followed by the exchange of Member States’ views regarding the Commission proposal. Further on, the proposal for the SAIO regulation was discussed: the focus was on Article 5 (regular data requirements) and on the structure of the Annex of the proposal for the SAIO regulation. The starting point for discussing Article 5 and the structure of the Annex of the proposal for the SAIO regulation was an informal document prepared by the Presidency based on bilateral technical discussions with Member States before the meeting. The discussion of the proposal was very constructive. The Presidency took note of the opinions of Member States and the Commission, and will strive to continue the activities related to the proposal in the best possible way. The proposal for the SAIO regulation will continue to be discussed at the next meeting of the Working Party on Statistics.
The next meeting of the Working Party on Statistics is scheduled for 6 October 2021.
The first meeting of the CWPS under Slovenian Presidency was held on 16 July via a videoconference. After the Presidency shared its priorities, work plans and objectives for the next six months, the examination of the SAIO proposal was the main item on the agenda. For this meeting the Presidency prepared an informal document, based on bilateral technical discussions carried out before the meeting with Member States, to guide the examination and discussion of Article 6 and related elements (Articles 5, 2, 11 and possibly newly proposed article on feasibility and pilot studies). The examination and discussion of the proposal was very constructive and the Presidency took note of the comments shared by the Member States and the Commission and will decide on the best way forward regarding the proposal. The examination and discussion of the SAIO proposal is expected to continue in the next CWPS meeting.
The next CWPS meeting is scheduled for 23 September.
On 1 July 2021, Slovenia took over the Presidency of the Council of the EU. In the next six months, the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia will preside over the Council Working Party on Statistics. On this occasion, Eurostat prepared an interesting infographic with a few highlights about Slovenia.
On 1 July 2021, Slovenia took over the presidency of the Council of the European Union. During this period, the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SURS) will preside over the Council Working Party on Statistics (CWPS). The predominant objective is to direct the legislative work in the field of statistics and to formulate the joint positions of the Council of the European Union in view of the discussions to be held with the co-legislators, namely the European Parliament and the European Commission.
The Slovenian Presidency in the field of statistics will build on the work of its predecessors and strive to achieve the long-term objectives set up within the 18-month programme and priorities of the Trio Presidency comprising Germany, Portugal and Slovenia. Based on the Trio Presidency programme, Slovenia prepared its own, more detailed 6-month programme. In the field of statistics, this programme is focused on encouraging the activities aiming at further strengthening the agility of the European Statistical System to respond adequately to user's needs.
The recent events on the one hand highlighted the importance and necessity of relevant and timely statistical data, while on the other hand they caused the public demands for ongoing provision of new data and indicators. In view of this, the Slovenian presidency will focus on the increased demand for faster response to user needs, strengthening of the existing and creation of new partnerships with data providers, with the objective to facilitate efficient use of new data sources for the production of official statistics.
During the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Slovenian Statistical Office will organise, together with Eurostat (the statistical office of the EU) a high-level event. The event will provide an opportunity for the discussion on the issue of timeliness of the statistical data, viewed as the response to user needs, as well as on the role of access to (new) data sources. The high-level event is to be held on 18 and 19 November 2021.