1. Teodora Brandmuller Head of Section – Regional and urban statistics
Conclusions and follow-up of the hearings between DG REGIO and Eurostat
Teodora Brandmuller
Head of Section – Regional and urban statistics
Hearings between DG REGIO and Eurostat
01 July Operational level
08 September Director level
16 September Director General level
October 2011

2. Geographical coverage of support: A new architecture of Cohesion Policy
Three categories of regions
Less developed regions: GDP per head < 75% EU
Transition regions :GDP per head > 75% and < 90%)
More developed regions: GDP per head > 90%
Cohesion Fund for Member States with GNI per capita <90%
11-Oct-2011

3. Budget for Cohesion Policy post 2013
billion EUR (2011 prices)
Cohesion Fund
68.7
Less developed regions
162.6
Transition regions
39.0
More developed regions
53.1
Territorial Cooperation
11.7
Extra allocation for outermost and northern regions
0.9
TOTAL
336.0
Connecting Europe facility for transport, energy and ICT
40.0
376.0
11-Oct-2011

4. Cohesion Policy: key role to achieve EU 2020 goals
Europe 2020 Strategy – a new strategy for Europe
Smart growth
Growth for all
Sustainable growth
EU Member States have set national 2020 targets
Future Cohesion Policy must be aligned with Europe 2020
Funding will remain concentrated in less developed regions
11-Oct-2011

5. Regional data is essential
to allocate the funds
to evaluate proposals
to assess the impact of the policy measures
to monitor
to report
complete data set
quality grade “A”
to monitor changes over time DG REGIO needs a benchmark at the beginning, at the mid-way and at the end of the period
the goal is not to reliably detect small changes, but to detect significant shifts
Grade “A”
An indicator is graded “A” when all of the following conditions are fulfilled:
- Data is collected from reliable sources applying high standards with regard to
methodology/accuracy and is well documented in line with Eurostat metadata
standard.
- The underlying data is collected on the basis of a common methodology for the
European Union and, where applicable, data for US and Japan can be considered
comparable; major differences being assessed and documented.
- Data are comparable over time; impact of procedural or conceptual changes
being documented.
To monitor changes over time during the next programming period, DG REGIO needs a benchmark at the beginning of the period. This could be a single year (for example 2013) or an average of two or three years. The same applies to a mid-way mark ( ) and the end of the period ( ). The goal is not to reliably detect small changes, but to detect significant shifts over this period.
Reporting
The combined at risk of poverty or exclusion indicator is more demanding to monitor at the regional level. As a result, this indicator would primarily be used for reporting and not for monitoring. For example, it could show the concentration of at risk of poverty or exclusion in less developed regions.
Descriptive use
Poverty or exclusion indicators below NUTS 2 level can be useful to assess the character of poverty and exclusion. For example, whether it tends to higher in predominantly urban or rural NUTS 3 regions. For these figures, more experimental techniques can be used such as model-based, small area estimations.
11-Oct-2011

6. Key indicators to allocate funds and to be used in negotiations
Set up a
project team to harmonise
data delivery
Total population (also at NUTS3 level)
GDP in PPS
number of unemployed, active population and unemployment rate
employment rate ages 20-64, employment and population 20-64
tertiary educational attainment, age group 30-34: rate, absolute figures and corresponding population
early leavers from education and training: rate, absolute figures and corresponding population
surface area (land area and total area)
Unit F1
Unit C2
Unit F2
all indicators are required at NUTS2 level (NUTS 2006 as long as the regional GDP figures refer to this "old" breakdown then in NUTS 2010)
should be complete in 2012 and 2013 for the 3 latest available years
for the Croatian regions as well
Unit F4
Unit E4
11-Oct-2011

7. New indicators to monitor and report
Smart growth
annual regional business demography indicators
Sustainable growth
regional environmental data collection
Inclusive growth
regional indicators for at risk of poverty or exclusion
11-Oct-2011

8. Consolidation of existing regional data collections
Reducing the response burden
Timeliness and quality control
Regional data in the Annual Work Programme (AWP)
- reflect on the possibilities how to anticipate better the changes initiated by thematic units concerning regional data
- include an updated version of the 'Reference Guide' in 'Statistics explained'
DG REGIO explained it is aware of the constraints faced by national statistical institutes. As a result, it focuses its proposals on data based on registers (business registers, registered crime), on indicators that refer to the entire sample (SILC), it can provide financial support. DG REGIO can also provide policy justification for its data needs and provide evidence of how the data is used.
The current format of the AWP does not allow for a clear indication of the domains where regional indicators are collected and published. DG REGIO is concerned that this may be misinterpreted as a low priority for regional data collections. Therefore, DG REGIO encourages ESTAT to find a clear place for regional data in the structure of future AWPs.
11-Oct-2011

9. Degree of urbanisation
DG REGIO is in the process of the finishing the revision of the degree of urbanisation.
Once complete, DG REGIO will transfer this file to ESTAT for
publication
dissemination and
implementation
11-Oct-2011

10. Thank you for your attention!
October 2011