The President of the NSI participated as a panelist in an event, dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the European Statistics Code of Practice

At the invitation of the Director General of Eurostat, Mariana Kotzeva, the President of the NSI, Assoc. Prof. Atanas Atanasov, PhD, participated as a panelist in a conference dedicated to the celebration of the 20^th anniversary of the establishment of the European Statistics Code of Practice. The event was organized by Eurostat and took place in the period of 6-7 November 2025 at the headquarters of the European Commission, the Berlaymont building, in Brussels, Belgium.

The event was attended by representatives of the statistical offices of the European Statistical System, the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Presidency of the Council of the EU, as well as other stakeholders – users of official statistical information. The participants discussed and focused on the achievements of the past two decades since the establishment of the European Statistics Code of Practice and its impact on the process of collecting, processing and disseminating official statistics in the EU.

Mr. Atanasov participated in a session dedicated to the principle of professional independence of statistical offices, which is a fundamental principle within the European Statistical System for guaranteeing trust in official European statistics. The session discussed, from a practical point of view, how national governments adhere to and respect the principle of professional independence of statistical offices. In this regards, Mr. Atanasov presented Bulgaria’s experience in applying the principle and outlined current challenges for its implementation, with a focus on the signed in 2021 Commitment on Confidence in Statistics by the Bulgarian Government.

The European Statistics Code of Practice consists of 16 principles and 84 indicators that set the standards for developing, producing, and disseminating European statistics, covering the institutional environment, statistical processes, and statistical outputs. All national statistical authorities that produce European statistics commit to adhering to these principles.