12.7.2000 Official Journal of the European Communities L172/3 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1500/2000 of 10 July 2000 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 with respect to general government expenditure and revenue THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, (7)  In accordance with Article 2(2) in conjunction with Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to the Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European System of national and regional accounts in the Community (ESA-95 (1)), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 448/98 (?) and in particular Articles 2(2) and 3(2) thereof, Whereas: (1)  Pursuant to Article 104(2) of the Treaty, the Commis- sion is to monitor the development of the budgetary situation. (2)  The aim of the content and format of stability and convergence programmes is to permit a fuller under- standing of the paths of the government balance and of the budgetary strategy in general, and complementary information should be provided on expenditure and revenue ratios. (3)  National accounts rules, especially ESA-95 concepts, are regarded as instruments to ensure comparability and transparency of data between Member States. (4)  Annex A ‘European system of accounts ESA 1995 of the ESA-95 Regulation does not refer to government expenditure and revenue but provides the framework to specify them by reference to a list of ESA 95 categories. (5)  The introduction of aggregates related to general govern- ment expenditure and revenue requires related amend- ments to the transmission programme of national accounts data. (6)  An additional transmission, yearly in March, of general government main aggregates (annual data) will provide useful information on government deficit developments. Article 3(2) of Regulation (EC) No 2223/96, amend- ments to ESA-95 which are intended to clarify and improve its content and require changes in the data requested from the Member States, shall be adopted by the Commission in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 4 of the said Regulation. (8)  The Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics, set up by Decision 91/115/EEC (%), has been consulted. (9  The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Statistical Programme Committee, set up by Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom (¥), HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 The aim of the present Regulation is to provide the definition of general government expenditure and revenue, to supplement classifications of transactions in goods and services (P) and of distribution transactions (D) and to amend the transmission programme of national accounts data. Article 2 Annex A (European System of Accounts ESA 1995) and Annex B (Transmission programme of national accounts data) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 shall be amended in accordance with the Annex to the present Regula- tion. Article 3 This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Brussels, 10 July 2000. () O] L 310, 30.11.1996, p. 1. () O] L 58, 27.2.1998, p. 1. For the Commission Pedro SOLBES MIRA Member of the Commission () O L 59, 6.3.1991, p. 19. () O] L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.