The European Commission presented, on Wednesday 6 September, a proposal for a directive introducing a European Disability Card and enhancing the European Parking Card for persons with disabilities. The aim is to make it easier for the persons concerned to travel within the EU by ensuring that their rights are recognised from one country to another for stays of less than three months.
“Disability rights should transcend national borders. And both cards make that a reality for millions of persons with disabilities and their families”, said the Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli.
A European Disability Card...
Disability status is not always automatically recognised from one Member State to another. Disabled persons are then deprived of certain rights or preferential treatment, such as priority access to venues at reduced rates. This uncertainty is potentially costly and discourages people from travelling.
The Commission wants the European Disability Card to serve as recognised proof of the existence of a disability within the Union, giving the persons concerned travelling in a Member State the same benefits as residents.
However, “it is important to mention that we are not seeking to harmonise who and how obtains a disability status in a Member State”, added the Vice-President of the Commission, Věra Jourová, specifying that “this will remain the competence of the Member States who will continue to determine conditions and procedures to assess disability status and who will issue an EU Disability Card”.
... For short stays
The card will cover public and private services, including transport, cultural activities, museums, leisure and sports centres and theme parks. On the other hand, the proposed directive does not address the lack of continuity of support granted when persons move to study or work, while their disability status is reassessed.
While the European Disability Forum (EDF) believes that the creation of a European card represents a “real improvement to free movement for persons with disabilities” it considers it to be “insufficient” and is calling on the European Parliament to amend it.
In particular, the President of EDF, Yannis Vardakastanis, wants the persons concerned to have “at least” temporary access to disability benefits in the Member State while their disability status is being reassessed. “Our disability doesn’t disappear like many of our support systems do disappear when we cross the border”, he insists.
While the card should facilitate short-term travel (i.e. up to three months), “when someone moves permanently to another EU country, other existing EU legislation and rules on free movement will apply”, the Commissioner pointed out.
Similarly, as her country takes over the rotating Presidency of the EU Council in January, Karine Lalieux, the Belgian Minister for Social Integration, warned: “If we want to add up too much on the test card, we won’t get anything”. Instead, she advocated working on the Commission’s proposal, stressing that it would be “easier to amend it in line with other developments at European level at a later date”.
A European Parking Card in the same format
Finally, the proposed directive aims to strengthen the European Parking Card for persons with disabilities. The national versions of this card, introduced by an EU Council recommendation in 1998, have gradually moved away from the proposed standardised format, again leading to varying recognition of the rights it gives.
To facilitate the use of the cards, the proposed directive also requires Member States to offer them in digital and physical formats, to publish the public criteria for accessing them and to ensure that providers offer information on preferential treatment for persons with disabilities in accessible formats.
The European Disability Card, tested in a pilot project in eight Member States, is one of the key initiatives of the ‘Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030’.
To see the draft directive: https://aeur.eu/f/8go (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)