eeting of PGSC in Tirana - Statistics in the Context of EU Enlargement Process
The regular annual meeting of the Statistical Cooperation Group (PGSC) took place from November 7th to 9th, 2023, in Tirana.
Organized by EUROSTAT and the Institute of Statistics of Albania as the host, the meeting was attended by directors and heads of international cooperation from candidate and potential candidate countries for accession to the European Union: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
As is the case every year, important strategic issues related to the development of statistics in the context of the enlargement process were discussed. Mr. Jean Pierre Poncelet, Director for Standards, Dissemination, and Cooperation in the European Statistical System, briefed participants on the latest plans and priorities in the European Statistical System (ESS).
The current focus of the ESS is on the urgent need to implement the Data Governance Act and the role of national statistical institutions in that context. Various aspects related to the DGA were also mentioned as relevant to the work of national statistical institutions, including data management, data sharing, access to microdata, data reuse, etc. Special emphasis was placed on the need for statistics to take a leading role in society concerning the data ecosystem.
In the context of statistical domains, the highlighted themes of the PGSC were transport statistics and agricultural census. The Director of BHAS, Ms. Vesna Ćužić, presented preparations for the Agricultural Census in Bosnia and Herzegovina, emphasizing past activities and upcoming steps.
Other important topics at the PGSC meeting included data collection and transmission to Eurostat (*BHAS recently finalized the activity: the first round of data collection for 2023 in BiH), peer reviews, IPA projects, and more.
ZParticipating countries showcased examples of their good statistical practices, where Director Ćužić presented Air Emission Accounts, the result of the statistical project "Environmental Accounts" under the IPA 2019 MBP.
On this occasion, Director Ćužić emphasized: "The key message from the PGSC meeting to enlargement countries is the need to increase the production and dissemination of statistical data. A higher quantity and better quality of delivered data demonstrate a higher level of compliance with EU regulations in the field of statistics."
