Changes from plenary report to adopted text

Change 3

RemovedSHORT JUSTIFICATION

AddedP9_TC1-COD(2023)0008

RemovedThe Council position at first reading reflects the agreement reached between Parliament and the Council in interinstitutional negotiations at early second-reading stage, after legal-linguistic verification.

AddedPosition of the European Parliament adopted at first reading on 24 April 2024 with a view to the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2024/… of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics on population and housing, amending Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013*

RemovedSince the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), with its vote on 5 June 2025, already confirmed the outcome of those interinstitutional negotiations, as your rapporteur I propose that EMPL recommends that the Plenary confirms the position of the Council at first reading, without amending it.

Added(Text with EEA relevance)

AddedTHE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

AddedHaving regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 338(1) thereof,

AddedHaving regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

AddedAfter transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

AddedHaving regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee,

AddedHaving regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions,

AddedActing in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure,

AddedWhereas:

Added(1) European statistics on population and housing play a central role in policy-making and decision-making processes and, as such, are required for the design, implementation and evaluation of Union policies, in particular those addressing the demographic change, the green and digital transformations, the framework for the promotion of energy efficiency, economic, social and territorial cohesion, the implementation of the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda in so far as they fall within the scope of this Regulation.

Added(2) Statistics on population are an important denominator for a wide range of policy indicators and used as reference across European statistics, particularly for providing sampling frames for conducting representative surveys of persons and households, under Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

Added(3) The Economic and Financial Affairs Council regularly gives a mandate to the Economic Policy Committee to assess the long-term sustainability and quality of public finances based on population projections produced by Eurostat. The population projections are also used for policy analysis in the context of the European semester. The Commission (Eurostat) should have at disposal all the necessary statistics to produce and publish population projections according to the information needs of the Union.

Added(4) Pursuant to Article 175(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Commission is to report, every three years, on the progress made towards achieving economic, social and territorial cohesion to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Regional and local data including for different territorial types, such as border regions, cities and their functional urban areas, metropolitan regions, rural regions, mountain and island regions are necessary for the preparation of those reports and for the regular monitoring of demographic developments and of possible future demographic challenges in the Union territory.

Added(5) Pursuant to Article 16(4) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), a qualified majority of the members of the Council is to be defined, inter alia, on the basis of the population of the Member States. For that purpose, pursuant to Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council Member States are currently obliged to provide the Commission (Eurostat) with data on the total population at national level.

Added(6) In 2017, the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) endorsed the Budapest Memorandum, which stated the need for annual statistics on the size and on certain social, economic and demographic characteristics of the population and improved statistics on migration. For the observance of the principles of equality and non-discrimination with regard to its citizens in all activities and the citizens’ rights as enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and Articles 10 and 19 TFEU, and for the purpose of monitoring progress towards the implementation of the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, the Union needs reliable and comparable statistics. Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 provides a framework for data collections from samples that allow to collect data on equality and non-discrimination in so far as this is feasible on samples and to analyse some aspects of equality and discrimination by producing socio-economic indicators and information on experience of discrimination. In addition, the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) carry out specific studies and dedicated surveys that can further extend the availability of equality statistics at Union level. In addition, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) provides data and information collected by means of surveys on living and working conditions. Cooperation and coordination between Member States, the Commission (Eurostat) and those agencies should be further enhanced to meet growing user demands for reliable and comprehensive data on equality and diversity in the Union.

Added(6a) The Budapest Memorandum also called for an improved statistics on migration and the development and implementation of common population and migration-related definitions, taking into account the need to establish concepts and definitions that are statistically sound, relevant and applicable in light of emerging types of migration. Past and ongoing events, such as the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union and, the consequences of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and other humanitarian crises underline the importance of timely and detailed migration and international protection statistics, which are essential to establishing an overview of migratory flows to, within and from the Union.

Added(7) To achieve the targets of the European Green Deal, the development and evaluation of effective policies require enhanced statistics relating to the energy use and efficiency of housing, detailed geographical data on the distribution of the population as well as deeper studies of the relationship between population and housing. The COVID-19 pandemic manifested the need for reliable, high frequency and timely statistics on deaths in the Union. While data needs were met with a voluntary data collection from Member States to the Commission (Eurostat), the Union needs an adequate mechanism for mandatory collection of such data within the European Statistical System (ESS), subject to the necessary frequency, timeliness and detail.

Added(7a) To monitor progress in the implementation of the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, of the headline targets of the related Action Plan and of the European Child Guarantee at the national level and to assess the distributional impact of climate change and policies in general, the Union needs an adequate mechanism for the mandatory collection of such data within the ESS, subject to the necessary frequency, timeliness and detail.

Added(8) UN Economic and Social Council, on the proposal of the UN Statistical Commission, every ten years adopts resolutions regarding the World population and housing census and invites UN member countries to conduct population and housing censuses in line with international and regional recommendations and by upholding the integrity, reliability, accuracy and value of the population and housing census results. European statistics on population and housing should take into account these recommendations.

Added(9) Streamlining reporting obligations and reducing administrative burden is a central objective of the Commission. The Commission communication of 16 March 2023, entitled ‘Long-term competitiveness of the EU: looking beyond 2030’ aims to rationalise and simplify reporting requirements by 25 % for undertakings and administrations, while not undermining the related policy objectives. Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council established a legal framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics, based on common statistical principles. That Regulation sets out the quality criteria and refers to the need to minimise the response burden on survey respondents and to contribute to the more general objective of reducing the administrative burden. A new legal framework for European statistics on population and housing should implement and build upon the quality criteria set out in that Regulation and reduce the administrative burden by embracing effective and efficient reuse of available data sources including administrative data.

Added(10) The evaluation of existing statistics on the population and housing censuses in the Union, statistics on international migration flows, migrant stocks and acquisitions of citizenship and demography statistics has shown that the current legal framework comprising Regulations (EC) No 862/2007, (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council has led to significant overall improvements of statistics compared to the 2005 situation without the current legal framework in force. That framework, however, has potential for a lack of consistency and comparability, which should be addressed.

Added(11) Climate change, the digital transformation, the evolving demographic situation and recent migration trends have created demands for timelier, more frequent, and more detailed European statistics on population, socio-economic developments, vital events and housing including details of topics or groups that have become politically and societally relevant during the past decade. In addition, the existing legal framework is not flexible enough to adapt to evolving policy needs and to enable the use of new sources at national and Union level. Furthermore, the structure of the existing legal framework in the form of three separate regulations, adopted at different times, has led to intrinsic inconsistencies of the statistics. Finally, as Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 will cease to apply on 31 August 2028, a new legal basis is required for the demographic statistics collected under that Regulation. It is therefore necessary to replace the current legal framework by a new, more consistent and flexible one that should amend relevant parts of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and to repeal Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013.

Added(12) Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 covers statistics on the country of citizenship and place of birth of the resident population (migrant stocks), on changes of residence between countries (international migration flows) and on acquisitions of citizenship of the resident population, whereas the other statistics under that Regulation concern administrative and judicial procedures relating to immigration legislation and international protection. Statistics as referred to in Article 3 of that Regulation are therefore closely linked and should be consistent with the statistics on the resident population and its demographic changes provided under Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013. To ensure intrinsic consistency, those statistics should therefore be integrated into a single legal basis while deleting Article 3 from Regulation (EC) No 862/2007.

Added(13) The rapidly changing nature of some population and housing characteristics, in particular in relation to demographic, socio-economic and migration phenomena, and the corresponding need for a prompt targeting and adaptation of policies means that there is a need for statistics to be available on a timely basis soon after the reference period. The periodicity and timeliness of statistics should be therefore tangibly advanced, where possible through the use of administrative data and administrative records. To that end, the Member States should provide adequate resources for their national statistical institutes.

Added(14) Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishes a grid-based methodology for the definition of territorial typologies based on the population distribution by 1 km2 grid cells. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1799 as a temporary direct statistical action accompanying the 2021 population and housing censuses provides for key census outputs on a pan-European 1 km2 grid. A legal framework should ensure the continued dissemination of georeferenced population statistics based on grids and its extension to housing statistics.

Added(15) Territorial units and statistical grids should be defined in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003.

Added(16) For geocoding of location, the statistical units theme in accordance with Annex III to Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council should be used.

Added(17) The current legal framework for European statistics on population and housing needs to be updated to ensure that the presently separate statistical processes are adequately integrated in a common framework which allows the ESS to respond effectively to new information needs of the Union and encourage statistical innovations. Statistical output must be enhanced to remain relevant in the face of demographic, migratory, social and economic changes and challenges, supporting policy and decision-making.

Added(18) The enhanced regular (annual and infra-annual) statistics on population and housing based on administrative sources should be complemented with information from coordinated population and housing censuses in the Union conducted every ten years in accordance with the UN principles and recommendations. Equally important, population and housing censuses provide a unique opportunity for official statistics to be visible, both in terms of operations and results.

Added(19) The Union censuses should become more cost-effective through making full use of the rich set of administrative data available across the Member States or a combination of different sources including sources related to the Internet of Things and the provision of digital services on the basis of the conclusion of protocols between the national statistical institutes of the Member States and providers of data from private databases. They should respect the privacy of personal data by establishing the needed safeguards for personal data collection to avoid any potential misuse and guarantee fundamental rights. They should also be used to re-establish the demographic baseline and include surveys of the coverage of administrative data sources.

Added(20) Member States and the Commission (Eurostat) should have sustainable access to the widest possible range of data sources to produce European statistics on population and housing of high quality and in a cost-effective manner. In this regard, it is crucial that national statistical authorities get timely access and are allowed to use promptly the administrative data owned by public administrations at national, regional and local level, in accordance with Article 17a of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. For example, statistics on energy efficiency of buildings can be based on administrative data relating to the issuance of energy certificates of buildings under Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council. National statistical authorities should be able to fully reuse, in a regular and timely manner, administrative data from the interoperable databases for the energy performance of buildings that are available nationally according to Directive (EU) 2024/1275 of the European Parliament and of the Council. The national statistical authorities also need to be involved in decisions concerning the design and redevelopment of relevant administrative data sources to ensure that they can be further reused for compilation of official statistics.

Added(21) In recent years, comprehensive Union level databases and interoperability systems related to residence, vital events, citizenship and migratory and cross-border movements of population such as those established by Regulations (EU) No 910/2014, (EU) 2018/1724, (EU) 2019/817 and (EU) 2019/818 of the European Parliament and of the Council have been developed. They provide valuable information that can be re-used for the compilation and quality assurance of European statistics on population and housing.

Added(22) In that respect, it is essential to enable the Commission (Eurostat) to re-use those data for statistical purposes only subject to strictly applying rules of data protection and data privacy pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council. This should apply in particular to the statistical data stored in the central repository for reporting and statistics (CRRS) in accordance with the purpose of the CRRS set out in Article 39(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/817 as well as in Article 39(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/818 and in accordance with the Regulations establishing the systems whose statistical data is stored in the CRRS. In particular, considering that the CRRS is to provide cross-system statistical data and analytical reporting for policy, operational and data quality purposes, the Commission (Eurostat) should cooperate with the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA), to the extent possible, with a view to providing the required European statistics.

Added(23) Privately held data refers to the vast amount of data held by private entities obtained as a result of their activity, which could be used by statistical authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) to produce official statistics. Such data can improve the coverage, timeliness and crisis response capacities of European statistics on population and housing or ▌ enable statistical innovation. Such data have the potential to complement existing demography and migration statistics, bring statistical innovation and even serve for production of early estimates while ensuring the protection of the rights and freedoms of data holders. The national statistical institutes and other competent national authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) should have access to and use such data and cooperate with the private data holders in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

Added(24) To ensure the comparability of European statistics on population and housing at Union level, it is essential that common population definitions are used and implemented in a harmonised way. To implement the single harmonised population base consistently, robustly and cost-effectively while ensuring timely results, it should be possible to apply scientifically based modelling techniques and statistical methods such as ‘signs of life’, where appropriate.

Added(25) Member States should provide their data and metadata in electronic form in an appropriate technical format to be provided by the Commission (Eurostat). International standards, such as the Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange initiative, and statistical or technical standards elaborated within the Union, such as metadata and validation standards or European Interoperable Framework principles, should be used to the extent relevant for European statistics on population and housing. The ESSC has endorsed the ESS standards for metadata and quality reports, in accordance with Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. Those standards are to contribute to the harmonisation of quality assurance and reporting under this Regulation and should therefore be introduced.

Added(26) European statistics on population and housing should meet the quality criteria on relevance, accuracy, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability and coherence specified in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. The quality of those statistics should be enhanced in so far as the needs of the Union evolve and mechanisms should be established to address possible situations where the quality of data is not guaranteed. Appropriate results from the quality assessment carried out by the Commission (Eurostat) should be publicly available to statistics users by assuring free and easy access to those statistics through Commission (Eurostat) databases on its website and in its publications.

Added(26a) European statistics on population and housing should address the persistent lack of data regarding vulnerable groups, namely hard-to-reach population groups, such as persons residing in institutions (for instance military institutions, correctional and penal institutions, dormitories of schools and universities, religious institutions, hospitals, residential care centres, institutions for persons with disabilities and orphanages), persons aged over 75, persons with disabilities, homeless people, persons with a migrant background and stateless persons. In order to bridge that data divide and to prevent social and economic inequalities arising from it, the Member States should develop strategies and targeted solutions for collecting data about hard-to-reach population groups, in particular with regard to locating, contacting, persuading and interviewing hard-to-reach populations.

Added(26b) Adequate, timely and effective policies presuppose reliable and comparable data, disaggregated by gender, age and, where relevant, nationality, socio-economic status, geographical area, and other characteristics in accordance with the statistical principles laid down in Article 338(1) TFEU and in the European Statistics Code of practice and Quality assurance Framework of the ESS. That data is relevant to better understand population and housing trends, to combat intersectional discrimination and to implement and assess Union policies, political objectives and actions, such as the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, the European Child Guarantee, the European Care Strategy, the European Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness, all of which rely heavily on data about households and families. Disaggregation of statistics by disability should be encouraged by using existing and new administrative data sources, which should be leveraged to explore capturing disability. The collection and use of such data must be conducted with full respect of Union and national privacy and fundamental rights standards, particularly where involving data of minors. Disaggregation by gender should reflect available data in Member States. In some Member States, it is currently possible for persons to legally register as having a third, often a neutral, gender. This Regulation does not affect relevant national rules giving effect to such registration.

Added(27) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 includes rules on the provision of data from the Member States to the Commission (Eurostat) and on the use thereof, including on the transmission and protection of confidential data. Measures taken in accordance with this Regulation should ensure that confidential data are provided and used exclusively for statistical purposes in accordance with Articles 21 and 22 of that Regulation.

Added(28) The Commission (Eurostat) is to respect the statistical confidentiality of the data provided by Member States pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. With regard to the population statistics collected under this Regulation, a harmonised approach to ensuring the high quality of European aggregates and avoiding the disclosure of confidential data in statistical outputs should be developed, avoiding as far as possible the suppression of data.

Added(29) Data sources available at national level are not always able to capture accurately phenomena related to the free movement of persons in the Union, the access of persons to cross-border services on demographic vital events and the exercise of persons rights to buy and own housing property used as primary, holiday and secondary accommodation across the Union. There are also discrepancies in the bilateral migration flows and difficulties to measure population groups, for instance among the migrant, homeless or stateless population. Therefore, data sharing for the purposes of compiling statistics on population and migration and ensuring their quality should be reinforced and considered as yet another data source. Such reinforced data sharing may cover a wide range of relevant data, from data that clearly do not allow for the identification of statistical units, either directly or indirectly, to data potentially subject to statistical confidentiality requirements. Member States should, in their own interest and in the interest of the other Member States, participate in data sharing activities, including in pilot projects assessing innovative secure solutions. The Commission (Eurostat) should also establish a secure infrastructure to facilitate such data sharing while ensuring all necessary safeguards for data protection.

Added▌

Added(31) The sharing of confidential data should take place only on the basis of a request justifying the necessity of sharing those data in accordance with Chapter V of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

Added(32) In the longer term, the collaborative efforts in the ESS to mitigate cross-border statistical quality issues, such as double counting of Union residents enjoying freedom of movement, should benefit from, for example, single digital identifiers established at Union level by Regulation (EU) No 910/2014.

Added(33) This Regulation is without prejudice to Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725 and Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. Within their respective scope of application, the latter Regulations are to apply to the processing of personal data under this Regulation, also considering that personal data processed for statistical purposes in the public interest are statistical confidential data, subject to the statistical confidentiality principle. Therefore, such data should only be used for statistical purposes and should never be used for measures or decisions regarding any particular natural person. Anonymised or pseudonymised data should be preferably used for processing, sharing and archiving of personal data for statistical purposes under this Regulation to guarantee the safeguards adopted pursuant to Article 89 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725. Where personal data are processed according to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 or Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, the principles of lawfulness, fairness, transparency and accuracy, purpose limitation, data minimisation, storage limitation and integrity and confidentiality should be fully applied. Similarly, the statistical principles set out in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 and further elaborated in the European Statistics Code of Practice should also apply.

Added(34) European statistics on population and housing should evolve to take into account emerging data needs stemming from changing policy priorities, as well as changes in the demographic, migratory, social or economic situation in the Union. The Commission (Eurostat) should undertake pilot and feasibility studies assessing the feasibility of the adaptations concerned as appropriate and should take into account aspects such as costs and administrative burdens on Member States and the availability of appropriate data sources. When preparing those studies, the Commission should ensure the representativeness of the studies at Union level, reflecting national diversities. The Commission should evaluate the results of the studies in cooperation with Member States.

Added(35) In order to take account of demographic, economic and social trends, technological developments and the need to design well-targeted policies in a timely manner, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission in order to amend the list, description , periodicities and reference times of detailed topics covered by European statistics on population and housing; to update the periodicities and reference times in the Annex to this Regulation and to specify the information to be provided by Member States on an ad hoc basis. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

Added(35a) The importance of European statistics as vital part of evidence-based decision-making is reflected in the programming and financing framework established by Regulation (EU) 2021/690 of the European Parliament and the Council for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics (Single Market Programme). Member States should be able to apply for financial support from the Single Market Programme as well as from the Technical Support Instrument established by Regulation (EU) 2021/240 of the European Parliament and of the Council in accordance with the objectives and rules of those instruments, for adapting their national statistical systems, improving methodology and data quality of statistics and planning and implementing ad-hoc data collections under this Regulation.

Added(36) In accordance with Regulations (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 and (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council and with Council Regulations (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95, (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 and (EU) 2017/1939, the financial interests of the Union are to be protected by means of proportionate measures, including measures relating to the prevention, detection, correction and investigation of irregularities, including fraud, to the recovery of funds lost, wrongly paid or incorrectly used, and, where appropriate, to the imposition of administrative penalties. In particular, in accordance with Regulations (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 and (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has the power to carry out administrative investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections, with a view to establishing whether there has been fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is empowered, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/1939, to investigate and prosecute criminal offences affecting the financial interests of the Union as provided for in Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council. In accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, any person or entity receiving Union funds is to fully cooperate in the protection of the financial interests of the Union, grant the necessary rights and access to the Commission, OLAF, the Court of Auditors and, in respect of those Member States participating in enhanced cooperation pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2017/1939, the EPPO, and ensure that any third parties involved in the implementation of Union funds grant equivalent rights.

Added(37) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation with regard to the specification of data and metadata requirements, technical formats and procedures for data and metadata provision, content and structure of quality reports, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and the Council.

Added(38) Where the implementation of this Regulation, or of the delegated and implementing acts adopted pursuant thereto, would require major adaptations to the national statistical system of a Member State for data provision with periodicity of less than 10 years, the Commission should be able, in duly justified cases and for a limited period of time, to grant derogations to the Member States concerned.

Added(39) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the systematic production of European statistics on population and housing, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of consistency and comparability, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 TEU. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

Added(40) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and delivered an opinion on 16 March 2023.

Added(41) The ESSC has been consulted,