Contents

1. Coherence between the 2008 SNA and the 2010 ESA and main changes in the respect of General Government SectorSeminar on GFS - IstanbulDenis Besnard Eurostat GFS seminar Istanbul

2. Contents - SNA and ESA: from cousins to brothers - A similar innovation in new Manuals: SNA 2008 chapter 22 ("The general government and public sectors") ESA 2010 chapter 20 ("The government accounts") - Which are the main changes for GFS in EU from new Manuals ? GFS seminar Istanbul 2

3. SNA and ESA: from cousins to brothers (1) Eurostat (acting for the EU Commission) is fully part in SNA elaboration. There is no "fundamental gap" between the two systems as regards the basic methodological principles: a "family resemblance"! However, first, an important difference is that ESA is a (Council and Parliament) Regulation which is a supra-national legislation directly enforceable (possible financial sanctions). Second, data from national accounts are used for policy purpose at the level of the EU (notably, EDP, new "MIP", contributions to EU budget, eligibility to some EU subsidies, etc.) Third, there is an high imperative of full comparability of data between Member States ("equal treatment" principle and rather large restrictions to "subsidiarity" in this area) GFS seminar Istanbul 3

4. SNA and ESA: from cousins to brothers (2) • For these reasons, ESA concepts normally more specific and precise than those of the SNA (ESA95 1,24) and "flexibility" less extended • Thus, SNA93 and ESA95 were not identical as regards GFS (just cousins) • But, in ESA10, "deviations" from SNA2008 have been significantly reduced, with still some (minor) differences in presentation and higher (relative) precision in some concepts (now brothers) • One difference is the existence of "satellite accounts" where consistent measurement is not fully met (examples are environment, health, research and development where government is acting) • A significant difference lies however in the treatment of pension obligations (core accounts under SNA versus supplementary table in ESA) GFS seminar Istanbul

5. New dedicated chapters for governmentand public sectors Eurostat took an active part in a specific international Task Force (2004-2006) on international harmonisation of statistics for the public sector One of the main result was the introduction of a dedicated chapter in SNA2008, followed by Eurostat in the context of ESA2010 The structures of both chapters are nearly identical, notably as far the definition of the government and public sectors and the specific presentation of government finance statistics are concerned But a decisive point is that most of the treatments included in the Eurostat MGDD for particular accounting issues were taken over in both national accounts manuals (beyond some "nuances", there is no "opposite guidance"). This is important for Eurostat as ESA Manual is a Regulation (reinforcement of Eurostat control powers) SNA2008 puts more emphasis on the public sector as a whole but this is changing in a new Eurostat approach (six-pack) GFS seminar Istanbul 5

6. Which main changes for GFS (EDP)? • Sector classification of non-financial corporations: - more importance of some qualitative criteria (effective market?) - extension of production costs to net interest charge (impact on highly indebted corporations) • Classification criteria for specific entities under government control (SPEs, holdings, captive financial institutions) • Treatment of lump sum for transfers of pension obligations • Treatment of trade credits • Treatment of swaps and forward agreements • Treatment of military goods • Treatment of standardised guarantees • Treatment of research and development (capitalisation) GFS seminar Istanbul

7. Thank you for your attention denis.besnard@eu.europa.ec GFS seminar Istanbul