High-level conference "EU Enlargement: The Role of Comparable and Reliable Official Statistics" held

The Director General of the CBS moderated a panel on new data sources and non-traditional methods of producing statistical data

The high-level conference was held on 11 and 12 September 2025, in the city of Burgas, Bulgaria, and was attended by Lidija Brković, Director General of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, and Andrea Galić Nagyszombaty, Director of the Statistical Methodologies, Quality, and Customer Relations Directorate.

The topic "EU Enlargement: The Role of Comparable and Reliable Official Statistics" was the focus of the conference, which brought together leaders and international cooperation experts from the national statistical offices of candidate and potential candidate countries, heads of statistical offices of EU Member States, and representatives of Eurostat.

The conference addressed the challenges faced by EU candidate countries in the field of statistics, the role of official statistics as a reliable source of information, and the ESS Peer Review as a tool for improving the national statistical systems. In the final part of the conference, discussions focused on strengthening and exploring new forms of statistical cooperation in Southeast Europe.



Director General Lidija Brković delivered a presentation titled "Official statistics as a trusted reference point for information - effective communication 'with users for users'," and moderated the panel discussion "Making official statistics fit for the future - new data sources and non-traditional methods for production of statistical information."

She concluded the panel with a strong message that traditional data collection methods remain a solid foundation, but are no longer sufficient on their own. She emphasised that the profession must integrate new and alternative data sources, while simultaneously addressing the issues of data access, the appropriate legal framework, privacy protection, and ethics.

The Director General also took the opportunity to congratulate her colleagues from the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute on an important anniversary - 145 years of Bulgarian statistics - and highlighted that Croatian statistics is also celebrating a milestone this year: 150 years of activity.

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