Statistical cooperation - European Neighbourhood Policy-South (ENP-S)
Article last updated: June 2024.
This article forms part of a set of background articles which introduces the statistical cooperation activities of the European Union (EU) with non-member countries and focuses on cooperation with its Southern Neighbourhood countries in the context of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP).
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Countries concerned and the partnership
The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) — established in 2004 — reflects the European Union's (EU) desire to build on common interests with partner countries and its commitment to work jointly in key priority areas. The ENP-South covers ten countries from EU's Southern Neighbourhood: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine [1], Syria [2] and Tunisia.
The European Neighbourhood Policy was reviewed in 2015. The review was set out in the Joint Communication Review of the European Neighbourhood Policy of 18 November 2015.
The main principles of the revised policy were a tailored approach to partner countries; flexibility; joint ownership; greater involvement of EU member states and shared responsibility. The ENP aims to deepen engagement with civil society and social partners. It offers partner countries greater access to the EU's market and regulatory framework, standards and internal agencies and programmes.
The joint communication a Renewed partnership with the Southern Neighbourhood - A new Agenda for the Mediterranean of 9 February 2021 set out a new and ambitious agenda for the region. The key themes are:
- human development, good governance and the rule of law
- resilience, prosperity and the digital transformation
- peace and security
- migration and mobility
- green transition: climate resilience, energy and environment.
An Economic and Investment Plan for the Southern Neighbours complements the new Agenda for the Mediterranean. The Plan includes flagship initiatives in a number of priority sectors.
Cooperation in statistics
Eurostat has been supporting statistical capacity building in the ENP-South countries and the region for a number of years by:
- providing technical assistance to national statistical authorities;
- sharing best practice and the transfer of know-how;
- collecting, validating and disseminating wide range of data;
- assisting countries in the process of harmonisation towards European and international norms and standards.
The annual Forum of Euro-Mediterranean statisticians steers and guides the Euro-Mediterranean regional cooperation in statistics and discusses issues of topical interest.
The Forum is co-chaired by Eurostat and one of the partner countries.
One of the results of the cooperation is the Statistics Code of Practice for the European Neighbourhood South countries, developed by Eurostat in cooperation with the partner countries. The purpose of the Code, which the Forum endorsed in 2016, is to help guide the development of the national statistical institutes and systems.
Eurostat has conducted peer reviews and sectoral assessments in the ENP South countries. These aim at helping the countries to improve their systems where needed. They also help donors to better target their financial and technical support.
MEDSTAT
The multiannual regional cooperation programme for statistics addressing common issues and requirements, the MEDSTAT programme, is a key tool for statistical cooperation. The MEDSTAT V programme was launched in January 2022 and will run for 4 years until the end of 2025. The programme consolidates and builds upon the work completed during previous phases, as well as addressing new EU priorities and statistical developments.
MEDSTAT V covers the following thematic areas:
- Business registers and statistics, circular economy, informal economy
- Trade and international investment
- Inclusiveness: Gender and Labour statistics
- Migration surveys and statistics
- Energy, transport and sustainable development
- Climate action and biodiversity.
In previous years, through four distinct phases (MEDSTAT I, II, III and IV), the cooperation programme developed from focusing on capacity building work to improving the quality of statistics and providing the foundation for evidence-based policymaking. Euro-Mediterranean statistical cooperation was launched by the Barcelona declaration and the Euro-Mediterranean partnership (1995–96) with the aim of promoting 'cooperation in statistics in order to harmonise methods and exchange data'.
Twinning and TAIEX
Twinning and TAIEX (technical assistance and information exchange instrument) are EU instruments through which technical assistance on statistics may also be provided. Twinning takes a medium-term perspective (up to six months under the 'light' option) or longer-term perspective (from a minimum of 12 months up to a maximum of 36 months), providing direct assistance from EU Member States on specific topics. TAIEX – the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument of the European Commission supports public administrations with regard to the approximation, application and enforcement of EU legislation, as well as facilitating the sharing of EU best practices. It is largely needs-driven and delivers appropriate tailor-made expertise to address issues at short notice.
Data collection and dissemination
Although the Southern neighbourhood countries and Eurostat are not legally obliged to exchange statistical data, Eurostat collects and publishes data from the countries. Such data exchanges are a tangible outcome of statistical cooperation.
The data are collected for several social, economic and environmental themes, such as population, health, living conditions, education, the labour market, the economy, international trade in goods, agriculture, business statistics and tourism, communications and the information society, research and development, transport, energy and the environment.
After validation, the collected data are uploaded onto the ENP-South domain of Eurobase, Eurostat's free reference database. The data are also used to prepare Statistics Explained articles with figures collected from the countries.
More information on statistical cooperation is available free of charge on the ENP section of Eurostat's website.
Direct access to
- International statistical cooperation — online publication
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