On the sixth and last meeting of the Council Working Party on Statistics on 7 June 2023, Mr. Joakim Stymne, the Director General of Statistics Sweden led continued discussions on the proposal for a regulation for population and housing (ESOP). The Working Party reviewed and discussed the first Presidency compromise text regarding articles 9-22, and the second Presidency compromise text regarding Articles 1-8, Annexes 1 and 2 and the Recitals. The second Presidency compromise text was based on the first Presidency compromise text and the Member States comments from the meeting on 11^th of May, but also on the written consultation which was conducted on Recitals in May.

The second compromise text was welcomed by the Member States, even though some issues were brought up during the meeting. The aim of the Presidency was to conclude the proposal and receive a majority acceptance. Therefore, regarding the outstanding issues, necessary changes were introduced on the spot to meet the Member States requirements. Some elements in the proposal were put up on voting.  By the end of the meeting the Member States could accept the second Presidency compromise text with amendments and the chair was able to close the discussions on the proposal for a regulation for population and housing. The amended text would be sent out on Monday 12^th June to the Member States. The next step is to take the proposal to Coreper 1 on 21^st of June to receive a mandate to begin the trialogues with the European Parliament.

Also, a short report on the state of play with other regulations where statistics is mentioned was given by the Presidency.

Regarding the proposal to amend Regulation 691/2011 as regards introducing new environmental economic accounts modules, the first draft of the report was discussed in the Environment Committee of the Parliament on Monday 5^th and the next step is for amendments to be proposed until 8^th June. EP foresees the vote in the Committee in October and in the plenary in November.

With regard to the proposal for the revision of Regulation 223/2009 on European Statistics, the Commission now plans to adopt the proposal by the end of June.

The Swedish presidency and the European Parliament are undergoing trialogues at the moment regarding Data act.  The discussions are not expected to be about statistics in specific but can indirectly be affected by the outcome.