Eurostat Management Plan 2015 for Regional and Urban statistics G. Schäfer Working Group Meeting 20/21 October 2014

Status and recent achievements Publications by REGIO and Eurostat (including IT tools) Regional and urban statistics have moved into the centre of attention by EU policy (Cohesion Policy, Urban Agenda) Functional cooperation on all levels (Member States, Commission Services and within Eurostat) Still increasing interest in the domain by general users Promising initiatives for regional typology and Labour Market Areas However: Continued concerns of users on completeness and timeliness

Emphasis of 2015 Annual Work Plan - Continuation and further consolidation as priority - In regional statistics main aspect remains coordination of the different indicators - In urban statistics launch of new data collection in 2015. (2012 data collection successfully completed with satisfactory results in coverage) - Preparation of 2016 flagship publication on cities - Cooperation with Member States, Policy DGs, Units of Eurostat, external partners - TERCET Legal Base - Integration geospatial and statistical information

Preparation of 2014-2020 Cohesion projects - Large scale analysis and planning effort by DGs (REGIO, AGRI, MARE) - Country reports on situation and issues - Partnership agreements - Detailed workplans for regions, programmes and projects, e.g. ITIs - Objective is evidence based policy making and accountability - Alignment with EU 2020 Objectives

Data collection urban (sub-national) statistics - Again financed with grants - Reduced set of core variables with focus on relevance, coverage, quality - Consistent set of cities according to objective criteria - Increased cooperation with Member states - Attempted full coverage of Member States - Results in Regional Statistics Illustrated - Potential inclusion of work on labour market areas

Thank you for your attention!