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Cooperation with the European System of Central Banks

The European Statistical System cooperates closely with the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), notably to guarantee the coherence necessary to produce high quality European statistics, to exploit synergies, and to minimise the reporting burden.

To facilitate the close cooperation between the 2 systems on priorities in statistical areas of shared responsibility or common interest, a  Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Eurostat and the European Central Bank (ECB) in 2013 and updated in 2024.

European Statistical Forum

The European Statistical Forum is a conference to exchange views and experiences on topics of strategic importance for both systems and users with the view to enhancing cooperation and coordination.

The European Statistical Forum is convened at least every three years and is attended by the

  • Presidents or Directors-General of the National Statistical Institutes of the European Statistical System
  • Directors of the Statistical Departments of the National Central Banks of the ESCB

It is co-chaired by the Director-General of Eurostat and the Director-General of the Directorate-General Statistics of the European Central Bank. The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMFB) also attend the European Statistical Forum.

Cooperation on the MIP procedure

In November 2016, an MoU on the quality assurance of statistics underlying the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure  (MIP) was signed between Eurostat and the ECB-DG Statistics.

This marks a milestone in the cooperation between the 2 systems and lays the groundwork for their cooperation in the areas of balance of payments and financial accounts statistics in line with the European Semester.