The first meeting of the Council Working Party on Statistics (CWPS) under the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union was held in Brussels on Friday, 23 January 2026. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Pantelis Protopapas and co-chaired by Mrs. Koulia Onisiforou.

The CWPS met for a full-day session with one legislative file on the agenda: the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European fisheries and aquaculture statistics and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1921/2006, (EC) No 762/2008, (EC) No 216/2009, (EC) No 217/2009 and (EC) No 218/2009. Delegations examined on an article-by-article basis the revised compromise proposal prepared by the Cyprus Presidency. Substantial progress was achieved and agreement was reached on the majority of the proposal’s provisions. The Presidency announced that a further revised compromise text would be prepared to address the few issues that remained open. Member States will be invited to provide their comments on these issues in writing.

Under Any Other Business (AOB), the Presidency provided an update on the progress of other statistical files, as well as non-statistical files being negotiated in other Council Working Parties that contain elements with implications to European official statistics.