Evaluation and Development of Confidence Indicators Based on Harmonised Business Consumer Surveys.

It has to be kept in mind that there is no general construction principle for a perfect composite leading indicator. It is only possible to optimise the construction of such an indicator with respect to specified demands. In the case of the EU Economic Sentiment Indicator the question is if top priority should be given to the performance of this indicator at the EU - or the euro zone level - or equally also to the performance at the member country level. In the latter case it would be necessary to develop for each individual member country a tailor-made leading indicator and to sum up the national figures to get an optimal EU or euro zone indicator.