The European regulation prohibits "pressures" from the Government such as those suffered by the INE

• The president of the INE presents his resignation after colliding with the Government and Economy disguises it as a "reinforcement process"

Juan Rodríguez Poo

presented his resignation as

on Monday , after months in which the Government has publicly questioned the work and methodology of the Institute, thus breaching the main

"

" is the first statistical principle by which European statistics must be governed in their development, preparation and dissemination, as stated in Regulation No. 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of March 11, 2009, in its article 2.1.A.

It must be borne in mind that European regulations "are binding legislative acts and must be applied in their entirety throughout the EU", as stated in community law and as it appears on the INE's own website.

"Statistics should be

particularly with regard to the

to be used, and the timing and content of any form of dissemination, and the execution of said functions remain

or interest groups

or Union authorities", emphasizes that article.

Therefore, there is no place for public recommendations from any member of the Executive on the indicators that the institute must measure -such as those made by the first vice president,

, on the use of the so-called "

, which she has recovered according to her the volume prior to the pandemic as opposed to GDP, which remains 3.6% below according to the latest data from the Bank of Spain-;

nor about the

to use, as has happened in the debate about the

to calculate the

.

Beyond the independence that must guide the INE in its work, the regulation points to

"The

(...) will act independently when carrying out their statistical functions,

, institution, body or organization", is included in article 5 Bis, in its section third.

In addition, "they will have the

to decide on the statistical processes and methods, standards and procedures, as well as on the content and timing of the communications and publications of the statistics developed, prepared and disseminated by the INE; and they will have the

relating to the internal management of the INE".

The Government cannot impose rates.

The pressure has been such that the president has chosen to resign

"

," sources close to the agency point out to EL MUNDO.

In fact,

MEP for Citizens, has asked the European Commission to rule on the matter.

The Government wanted to camouflage on Monday the resignation of the already ex-president of the INE within a

for the organism that is being elaborated with the aim of reinforcing it.

"In the coming weeks, the Council of Ministers will approve a new Statute for the National Institute of Statistics (INE) and the

(...) A

is opened for this position that is expected to

", announced the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The department headed by Calviño has not wanted to confirm whether

who resigned last week as Secretary of State for Social Security, will be his replacement, as

revealed last week .

If true,

The Association of Senior State Statisticians,

which yesterday before the resignation showed its support for the president, has valued for EL MUNDO that "interference of a political nature cannot be carried out in statistical matters" and has defended that "for more than 30 years never The president of the INE has been dismissed for reasons such as not liking the statistical formula used to calculate an indicator".

"The science behind the statistics is determined by European regulations, to prevent the data from being falsified in each country.

with the idea that

that is not regulated by the EU and that is useless. The Statistics regulations say that this cannot be done. The Government cannot impose indexes.

", point out sources from the Association, which is part of the Federation of Associations of Higher Bodies of the General State Administration (FEDECA)

Damage to the credibility of the country

This succession of events has been followed by a cascade of reactions from organisations, associations, social agents, economists and, above all, politicians, who have

and have criticized the attempted interference by the Executive, comparing it to the one carried out in other State institutions, such as the

or the

"The Central Independent Trade Union and Officials (

), the most representative union in public administrations, today transferred its support to the staff of the National Institute of Statistics (INE) and

of this body. From CSIF regrets the circumstances that have led to the resignation of its president, Juan Manuel Rodríguez Poo, and

the reasons that have led to this resignation," the union stressed in a statement.

They have defended that "The INE is an organization that in its history has had an

and this event, which is

, only makes the

".

"Therefore, we ask for a broader explanation and for the image of the INE to be redirected. CSIF stresses that the professionalism of the body, whose work is characterized by impartiality, transparency in data collection and above all, has never been discussed. ,

In addition, all the information that is collected is validated by the Eurostat agency and therefore is integrated with the rest of the data at a European level", they have underlined.

has also defended its work

.

"I cannot go into why or how the resignation of the president of the INE is, but in any case

I think it is fundamental, it is a highly prestigious body, it always has been and it is very important for everyone, to analyze the issues", defended its president,

"Interference is very bad news.

of public analysis houses for the health of democracy," defended the think tank

The

has shown its concern in conversation with this medium.

"We find it very worrying, especially because of the previous news. The INE, as responsible for national statistics, is one of the pillars of a serious country. And

questioning the goodness of the classic indicators and the rumors dismissal of the president followed by his resignation

can lead to

The president of the party,

, has described the resignation as "bad news" for the credibility of Spain.

"Seeing how the director of the INE is dismissed because

on economic growth and inflation is undoubtedly

" , he has stated.

From

, its leader,

, has indicated on Twitter that "it is essential to promote ambitious reforms that guarantee the independence of organizations such as the INE and shield their professionals from the

" and has accused Pedro Sánchez of being "

".

Begoña Villacís,

deputy mayor of Madrid for the same party, has also attacked the president.

"He bragged about controlling the Prosecutor's Office, placed a groupie in the CIS, tied the hands of the CGPJ and sold the CNI to the nationalists. This week Indra sweeps away and causes the resignation of the president of the INE.

".

"There are few things more lethal for a country than cheating itself with the accounts.

," pointed

, former president of the Castilla and leon meeting.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• INE

• GDP

• Alberto Nunez Feijoo

• Ines Arrimadas

• Pedro Sanchez

• CIS

• CNI

• European Comission

• citizens