Despite the adoption of European invalidity and parking cards in 2024, freedom of movement will remain limited for more than 100 million people with disabilities in the European Union.
This is the view of the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) in a publication published on Thursday 9 October, which reports that disability status and the associated social benefits are not automatically recognised from one Member State to another, due to the different methods of assessing disability.
As a result, a person recognised as disabled in one Member State may lose this status when they move to another and have to start the procedure all over again, sometimes over several years, during which time they would be deprived of both their income and appropriate care.
The ETUI makes a number of recommendations and calls for the creation of a European database on mobility and rights, the harmonisation of disability assessment methods and the mutual and automatic recognition of social status and benefits.
These are all measures without which, according to the institute, the EU would not be fulfilling its commitment to its most represented minority.
To see the EUTI’s recommendations: https://aeur.eu/f/iuu (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)