Council highlights progress on EU statistics in its 2024 conclusions

The Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) approved the 2024 conclusions on EU statistics on 5 November. In its conclusions, the Council welcomed among others:

• the improvements in the quality and availability of the Principal European Economic Indicators;
• the publication of the annual accounts of the EU institutions and bodies;
• the monitoring of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals at EU level;
• the work to develop and improve commercial real estate statistics; 
• the progress made in the publication of new indicators on energy as well as the detailed statistics on the security of energy supply and import dependency. 

Noting the importance that high-quality social statistics play in the development of European social policies, the Council appreciated the publication of pilot data related to digital platform employment and welcomed the proposal to improve the scope, timeliness, and comparability of labour market statistics on business. 

Looking forward, the Council encouraged the European Statistical System to tap into the possibilities provided by the revised Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, which the Council adopted on 5 November to further develop high-quality and relevant statistics that will contribute to Union priorities and will help tackle disinformation. The Council called for efforts to develop new statistics on the competitiveness and resilience of European businesses and to identify sectors with a high dependence on imports of critical raw materials and of essential components. It also advocated for efforts to deliver more detailed and timely statistics on housing prices and on social housing, given the challenges that many Europeans face in accessing affordable housing.