On Wednesday 2 June, the Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the EU (Coreper) backed draft conclusions “welcoming and endorsing” the new 10-year EU strategy on the rights of people with disabilities (see EUROPE 12670/4).
The EU Council recognises the need for action to improve the inclusion of the 87 million people in the EU with disabilities. It also underlines the urgent need to fight against discrimination, which more than half (52%) of these people say they are victims of on a daily basis.
To this end, the EU-27 are called upon to adopt policies that value the potential of people with disabilities and to combat stereotypes about them.
The draft conclusions also call on Member States to ensure the transposition of EU legislation on accessibility of products, services, media, transport and buildings into national law.
Data. It also points to the “significant methodological gaps and discrepancies” that persist among the EU-27 in the collection of statistical data on the situation of people with disabilities.
“This needs to be addressed in order to ensure that the information provided is relevant and accurate in terms of quality, frequency and comparability”, the document says.
It also calls on national governments to strengthen their cooperation through AccessibleEU: the European resource centre for more coherent accessibility policies in the EU, which is due to be launched in 2022.
Intersectionality. Another recommendation, this time for both States and the Commission, is to consult “actively and regularly” with civil society organisations representing or working with people with disabilities.
Finally, the emphasis here is on the “intersectionality” of disability with other disadvantageous characteristics: gender or socio-economic characteristics, for example, which may expose some people with disabilities “to multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination”.
“For instance, women with disabilities are more likely to suffer gender-based violence or to have fewer opportunities in terms of access to employment”, the draft conclusions say, calling on the EU-27 to “take into account existing gender inequalities” when developing their disability policies.
While the draft conclusions call for “ambitious” national measures, they provide no guarantee that Member States will implement the Commission’s non-binding recommendations.
It specifies that the support given to the European strategy by the EU Council in no way “prejudges” the decisions that will be taken by the EU-27 regarding the application of this strategy in their respective territories.
The draft conclusions will be submitted to EU ministers for final approval at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) on 15 June.
To consult the text approved by Coreper: https://bit.ly/3vLR05o (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)