Written question – Commission’s view on population rules and impact of migration on Member States’ population sizes – P-002354/2025

Priority question for written answer  P-002354/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Pál Szekeres (PfE)

In the context of the provisional agreement on a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics on population and housing, amending Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013, we would like to know, as a matter of urgency, the Commission’s views on the following:

• 1.If the current rules remain in place and the rules in the expected amendments are adopted, will the population size of the EU Member States be calculated on the basis of the principle of ‘usual residence’ in the census? If so, could the census be affected by the scale of migration and the volume of migrants and refugees from non-EU countries?
• 2.Could this also affect policymaking, influencing the population size of Member States when the proposed new definitions are adopted, and ultimately providing a strategic incentive to support more immigration from a political perspective?

Submitted: 11.6.2025