Community statistics: 2003-2007 programme

The Council's common position closely follows the Commission's proposal and the European Parliament's amendments except for the amendment which aims to increase the budget for the programme from EUR 192.5 million over 5 years to EUR 222.377 over the four years 2003-2006. New Recitals have been added, to incorporate the European Parliament's amendments on the comparability and high quality of statistics and the need for a gender breakdown of data in certain areas. The common position states that EUR 41 773 000 shall be for 2007 and the amount of EUR 41 773 000 shall be deemed to be confirmed if it is consistent with the financial perspective in force for the period commencing in 2007. In the introductory section of Annex 1, the Council has introduced a reference to the need for cost-effectiveness in implementation and also a reference to the consultation of Member States through the Statistical Programme Committee. The Council has also revised the wording of the element related to structural indicators, so as better to reflect the scope of the mandates given by the European Council and to place the appropriate emphasis on open coordination. A paragraph has been introduced that describes the need for ongoing review of the necessity of existing statistics as part or the programming of statistical priorities. In addition, in Title II of Annex 1, under Forestry, the Council has introduced a general reference to the need to develop better quality forestry statistics, rather than the narrow focus on the specific criteria and indicators described. In Title VIII of Annex 1, the Council has removed the reference to the specific variables covered by the continuous labour force survey, since these are set out in the relevant Regulation. A reference to care and childcare facilities has nonetheless been introduced in Title XI of the Annex. The Council has also introduced in Title VIII a reference to "studies on" the implementation of a Community job vacancy survey, while deleting the bullet point relating to implementation of a Regulation on the survey, since the Commission has decided not to introduce a legislative proposal in this area for the time being. In title XI of Annex 1, the Council has introduced the European Parliament's fifth amendment on improving data-gathering and processing, as well as introducing a reference to providing information on care and childcare facilities. In Title XIII of Annex 1, the Council has introduced an amendment requiring a breakdown of data by level of income only where this information is available, so as to avoid a disproportionate cost in those Member States where this data is not available.�