10.12.2013 Official Journal of the European Union L 330/39 REGULATION (EU) No 1260/2013 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 20 November 2013 on European demographic statistics (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 338(1) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (1), Whereas: 1 According to Article 16(4) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), as from 1 November 2014, a qualified majority of the members of the Council is to be defined, inter alia, on the basis of the population of the Member States. The Economic and Financial Affairs Council regularly gives a mandate to the Economic Policy Committee to assess the long-term sustainability and quality of public finances on the basis of population projections produced by Eurostat. In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (?), all Member State statistics transmitted to the Commission which are broken down by territorial units are to use the NUTS classification. Consequently, in order to establish comparable regional statistics, the territorial units should be defined in accordance with the NUTS classification. In accordance with the second paragraph of Article 175 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Commission is to submit a report to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions (1) Position of the European Parliament of 22 October 2013 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 15 November 2013. (3 Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) (O] L 154, 21.6.2003, p. 1). every three years on the progress made towards achieving economic, social and territorial cohesion. Annual regional data at NUTS 3 regional level is necessary for the preparation of those reports and for the regular monitoring of demographic developments and of possible future demographic challenges in the Union regions, including different types of regions such as border regions, metropolitan regions, rural regions and mountain and island regions. Since demographic ageing exhibits strong regional differences, Eurostat is required to prepare regional projections on a regular basis in order to complement the demographic picture of the NUTS 2 regions in the Union. In accordance with Article 159 TFEU, the Commission is to draw up a report each year on progress in achieving the objectives of Article 151 TFEU, including the demo- graphic situation in the Union. The Commission in its Communication of 20 October 2009 entitled ‘Solidarity in health: reducing health inequalities in the EU’ supported the further development and collection of data, and the further development of health indicators, by age, sex, socioeconomic status and geographic dimensions. The Sustainable Development Strategy of the Union, launched by the European Council in Gothenburg in 2001 and renewed in June 2006, has as its objective the continuous improvement of the quality of life for current and future generations. The Commission (Eurostat) monitoring report, which is published every two years, provides an objective statistical picture of progress, based on a Union set of sustainable devel- opment indicators. Annual demographic statistics are fundamental for the study and definition of a wide range of policies, with particular regard to social and economic issues, at national and regional level. Statistics on population are an important denominator for a wide range of policy indicators. The strategic objective H.3. of Chapter IV of the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) provides a reference framework for the generation and dissemination of gender-disaggregated data and information for planning and policy evaluation reasons.