ESPON 2013 DATABASE

Malmö Seminar, 2-3 December 2009

Enlargement to neighbourhood

The ESPON Database dataflow

ESPON 2013 Database ProjectChallenge 11 (experts)

Enlargement to neighbourhood Malmoe 1st to 3rd December 2009

Coordinator: RIATE & NTUA

Enlargement of the ESPON Database to integrate data from different categories of neighbouring countries is very useful, however very difficult. In this project we work on the Candidate Countries / CC (Western Balkans and Turkey) data and we will definea strategy to expand the Database in the future to the other neighboring countries.

The strategy to collect data on the CC should rely:on the networking with other ESPON priorities 1 and 2 projects as well as the cooperation with relevant European (Eurostat, EEA, etc) and World Organisations.

It is implemented through several steps.

1st step:Evaluation of the situation of data available in W. Balkans and Turkey (CC)A corresponding technical report was submitted at July 2009.A short paper describing the inclusion of regional data of the CC in ESPON 2013 Database will be included in the 2nd Interim Report / February 2010.

Progress done since the FIR on the task (a) and some relevant first results:

(a) Data availability at level NUTS 0 / country levelIn general, it is very satisfactory for all CC for the following issues:

Key indicators on EU policy: General Economic Background, Employment, Innovation and Research, Economic Reform, Social Cohesion, Environment

Economy and finance, Population and social conditions, Industry, trade and services, Agriculture, forestry and fisheries, External trade, Transport, Environment and Energy, Science and technology.

Most of the data are provided by Eurostat,

additional data are provided by the National Statistical Offices (NSO)

(b) Data availability at NUTS2 level It is in general very satisfactory for Croatia, FYROM and Turkey.

Data are fully comparable with the EU ones as these countries have adopted the NUTS classification.

Available data from Eurostat on: Agriculture, demography, economic accounts, science and technology, tourism, labour market.

Some additional data for specific topics are provided by the NSO. It is less satisfactory for the other CC Relevant data are provided by the NSO.

Candidate Countries data availability assesment : different results per country, territorial levels and themes

(c) Data availability at NUTS3 levelIt is very satisfactory for Croatia, FYROM and Turkey-data provided by Eurostat- for the following sections: demography, economic accounts, tourism, labour market. Some additional data for specific topics are provided by the NSO of these countries.For the other CC, data are provided only by the NSO. For demography and labour market, it is good only for some of them while for the rest it is nearly acceptable. For the rest sections, there are important differences according to the country. Concisely, availability is more satisfactory for Serbia, much less satisfactory for the other CC.

2nd step First delivery of data and geometriesData on CC population and area at NUTS 0, 1, 2, 3 levels as well as respective metadata sheets were included in the ESPON Database “June Delivery”. We note that for the cases of CC except main sources of data are the Official Statistical Institutes of the respective countries (not Eurostat)Eurostat / Eurogeographics geometries for the different NUTS levels of the CC exist only for Croatia, FYROM and Turkey.

We deifned «Similar» NUTS levels / territorial units for the other CC and included all CC NUTS geometries in the new ESPON Mapkit.

The “West Balkans” Gap on the ESPON Maps is gradually closing.

First delivery of data and geometries

3rd step:Establishment of contacts and regular dataflow between the ESPON Database

Project and the National Statistical Offices of the Candidate Countries and

Exploration of the possibility to collect new statistics related to different

geographical objects.

This task will allow us, among others, to:

(a) Consolidate the NUTS levels definitions in these countries

(b) Check more in depth the availability of some series of data.

It will focus in particular on the urban data,

making it possible to enlarge the urban database elaborated by ESPON 2006 project and

further developed by ESPON 2013.

The work on this task will last from December 2009 to December 2010.

Its results will be incorporated in the Final Report.

Establishment of a regular dataflow with the NSO of the CC

4th step It aims at enlarging the scope of ESPON Database 2013 to cover regional data (a) for

the Eastern Neighbouring countries (ENC) and

(b) for the Southern Mediterranean Neighbouring countries (MNC).

This step will begin on December 2009. The results of a preliminary assessment will be

included in the 2nd Interim Report (February 2010) while the conclusions will feed the

Final Report.

Further expanding ESPON Database to ENC and MNC