Page 54 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 1

IPS55 Maria João S. et al.
proposed statistical programmes, taking account of users’ requirements and
producers' concerns in the production and dissemination of official statistics.
Via its membership of ESAC, the EP, an important user of official statistics,
has a channel for influencing in advance the development and production of
official statistics.

7. Conclusions
We have described the multiple aspects of the role of the European
Parliament in the statistical domain in the European Union. After this
description, the following question could be raised: what would be the optimal
model for involvement of the parliament in the governance of the statistical
systems?
As key institutions in a democratic system and by their representative role,
parliaments can promote good governance by encouraging citizens’
participation and involvement in the decision-making processes and, in turn,
by making political institutions accountable to the people. Parliaments are no
longer bodies with the single role of enacting legislation: they are the voice of
the citizens who have elected them and are increasingly becoming closer to
citizens.
Ensuring balanced priority-setting, providing a high degree of legitimacy
and being vigilant about response burden are crucial means to achieving good
governance. Parliaments can further contribute to that by strongly pushing for
accountability, monitoring and reporting and by empowering citizens to be
more engaged in such a process.
To achieve this goal, parliaments need to be given the necessary means
(capacity and resources) but also to fully integrate their public participation
role with their other ‘more traditional’ structures and functions.

43 | I S I W S C 2 0 1 9