The European Parliament approved with an overwhelming majority two important legislative reports submitted by Labour MEP Professor Scicluna. Yesterday the Committee for Economic and Monetary Affairs, of which Scicluna is Vice-President, approved a new set of European Statistical Regulations aimed to bolster the governance of the European Statistical System at both the national and the European level. These regulations will be giving more independence to the national statistical agencies and Eurostat in their operation, directing their reporting to the national and European Parliaments. They will change the procedures for the nomination and appointments of the Heads of these Statistical Agencies. Governments will also be held accountable for their data through a Code of Conduct which will be scrutinised by the Parliament.
Last week in Plenary, the European Parliament also approved another Scicluna legislative report which concerns the European Statistical Programme for 2013-2017. The €300 million budget sets out the priorities for the next five years giving clear guidance as to the direction Eurostat and the national statistical agencies should be taking.
Reacting to the approval of these two reports Prof Scicluna said: “As we have seen during the current economic crisis, inaccurate statistics led to a complete breakdown of trust between the international financial markets, institutions and public in general. In this field it just cannot be business as usual. We have to ensure that the data being used as benchmarks for the monitoring of the economic and social performance of EU member states is reliable and beyond reproach.”
Prof Scicluna who has been entrusted with a number of statistical files, is the European Parliament’s representative on Eurostat’s Advisory Board. He concluded by saying that; “I am pleased that with the adoption of these two reports we can ensure that the European Statistical System will be put on a firm footing quite similar to the European Central Banking System. In so doing we have to guarantee an appropriate balance between the independence of statistical bodies and the democratic legitimacy which comes from closer Parliamentary scrutiny.”
Il-Parlament Ewropew jaddotta żewġ rapporti leġislattivi importanti tal-Ewroparlamentari Laburista il-Professur Edward Scicluna
Il-Parlament Ewropew approva b’maġġoranza kbira żewġ rapporti leġislattivi importanti li saru u ġew ippreżentati mill-Ewroparlamentari Laburista il-Professur Edward Scicluna. Il-bieraħ il-Kumitat għall-Affarijiet tal-Ekonomija u tal-Affarijiet Ewropew, li tiegħu il-Professur Scicluna huwa Viċi-President, approva set ġdid ta’ regolamenti tal-Istatistika Ewropea li l-għan tagħha huwa li tissaħħaħ il-governanza tagħha sew fuq livell Nazzjonali u fuq livell Ewropew. Dawn ir-regolamenti ser jagħtu iktar indipendenza lill-Aġenziji Nazzjonali tal-Istatistika u lill-Eurostat fil-ħidma tagħhom u li jwieġbu għal ħidmiethom lill-Parlamenti Nazzjonali u Ewropew. Huma mitluba wkoll jibdlu l-proċeduri għal nominazzjoni u ħatriet tal-kapijiet tal-Aġenziji tal-Istatistika. Il-gvernijiet se jinżammu responsabbli għal-kontijiet tagħhom permezz ta’ Kodiċi ta’ Kondotta li tkun skrutinizzata mill-Parlament.
Il-ġimgħa li għaddiet fil-Plenarja tal-Parlament Ewropew ġie approvat ukoll rapport leġiżlattiv ieħor tal-Professur Scicluna li jikkonċerna l-programm Ewropew tal-Istatistika għal perjodu 2013-2017. Il-baġit ta’ tlett mitt miljun ewro jmexxi ‘l quddiem il-prijoritajiet għall-ħames snin li ġejjin u jagħti gwida ċara dwar liema direzzjoni l-Eurostat u l-aġenziji Nazzjonali tal-Istatistika għandhom jieħdu.
F’reazzjoni għall-approvazzjoni ta’ dawn iż-żewġ rapporti l-Professur Scicluna qal, “Bħal ma rajna f’din il-kriżi ekonomika, l-istatistika skoretta waslet biex titfarrak għal kollox il-fiduċja bejn is-swieq finanzjarji internazzjonali, istituzzjonijiet u l-pubbliku inġenerali. F’dan il-qasam ma jistax ikun li kollox jibqa għaddej qisu ma ġara xejn. Aħna rridu nassiguraw li l-indikaturi li jintużaw bħala ‘benchmarks’ għall-moniteraġġ tal-ħidma ekonomika u soċjali tal-Istati Membri tal-Unjoni Ewropea tkun ta’ min jorbot fuqha”.
Il-Professur Scicluna li ġie fdat b’numru ta’ files tal-istatistika huwa r-rappreżentant ewlieni tal-Parlament Ewropew fuq l-Advisory Board tal-Eurostat. Huwa ikkonkluda u qal, “Jiena sodisfatt li bl-approvazzjoni ta’ dawn iż-żewġ rapporti nistgħu nassiguraw li waqt li hemm fondi adekwati nistgħu niżguraw li s-Sistema tal-Istatistika Ewropea titpoġġa fuq sisien sodi u li tkun simili għas-Sistema Bankarja Ċentrali Ewropea. B’hekk nkunu nistgħu nassiguraw li jkun hemm bilanċ sew bejn l-indipendenza tal-entitajiet tal-istatistika u l-leġitimità demokratika li tista tiġi biss bi skrutinju parlamentari iktar mill-qrib”.
– Friday, 22 December, 2012