92002E2110

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2110/02

by Ioannis Marínos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(17 July 2002)

Subject: Absence of statistics for Greece

Euro-Indicators No 48/2002, published by Eurostat, lists internal trade and total exports for the Member States of the Union. The figures produced are complete and highly informative and cover the period up to January 2002 even in respect of countries which are not members of the Union, such as Russia, Poland, Turkey and others. Surprisingly, however, there are no statistics for Greece or Luxembourg (EU Member States) for 2002 in respect of their total imports and exports and their balance of trade.

What are the reasons for this absence of statistics? With particular reference to Greece, is the Commission satisfied with the flow and quality of statistics from the Greek authorities? Has it encountered problems with delays in the notification of statistics to its departments and Eurostat and with which particular data? Are there more general problems associated with the reliability of the data and, if so, what are they?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(17 September 2002)

1. With regard to Luxembourg, the absence of data for January 2002 in Euro-Indicators No 48/2002 was caused by a delay in the transmission of the data to Eurostat, resulting from a change in the data processing application at the beginning of 2002. This problem has since been resolved and the data transmission deadlines are now being respected.

In the case of Greece, a delay in the transmission of data to Eurostat also explains the absence of data for January 2002. There are two main reasons for the frequent delays: the significant proportion of declarations transmitted on paper, and the lack of suitable resources to process these declarations.

2. The Commission (Eurostat) is not happy with the transmission of data by Greece, as it is failing to meet the regulatory deadlines. Eurostat has drawn the attention of the Greek authorities to this matter on a number of occasions.

Eurostat considers the quality of the Greek data to be comparable to that of most other Member States.

3. The Commission (Eurostat) has identified delays in the transmission of both intra-Community and extra-Community statistics by Greece. With regard to the latter, it should be emphasised that the statistical declarations are collected and processed by the customs authority (Ministry of Finance), and then validated and transmitted to Eurostat by the Greek Statistical Office.

Eurostat is aware of this arrangement and is paying close attention to the efforts being made by Greece to deal with the situation regarding transmission deadlines.

Depending on the results for the coming months, Eurostat will, if necessary, step up its representations to the Greek authorities.

4. The Commission (Eurostat) has no specific comments to make regarding the reliability of the Greek data.