European Disability Card and European Parking Card:
In a vote on 24 April, the European Parliament, in plenary session, adopted the Directive establishing a European Disability Card and European Parking Card for persons with disabilities, as well as the parallel directive extending the rules to third country nationals. Sadly, for reasons of legal editing and translation, the formal adoption—which will trigger the timeline for implementation—will only happen after the European elections, with the new Parliament and hopefully under Hungarian presidency of the Union (second semester 2024).
We had an exchange with our Swiss member organisation on how to go about connecting their country to the directive based on the bilateral EU-Switzerland free movement agreement. More generally, we will explore the possibility of extension to other non-EU European countries interested (Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein being already covered as European Economic Area members).
European elections and beyond:
We conceived a communications campaign in May ahead of the European elections, with 16 key messages for the next European legislature, building on our Statement of September 2023, with a heads-up to our members in the EU on 16 April, to request their support and participation.
We also started to work on planning post-elections lobbying action to liaise with the resulting new institutional scene, up to an event in Brussels at the end of the year.
Accessibility:
Together with Fundacion ONCE and other stakeholders, we met with European Central Bank representatives regarding the development and implementation of the digital euro, specifically focusing on accessibility for blind and partially sighted individuals and people with disabilities in general. We used in that context some preliminary recommendations from the Pay-Able task group.
On 3 April, we attended a joint AccessibleEU-ANEC webinar on relevant standardisation activities, with the aim to figure out how concretely the new resource centre will connect to EU standardisation and draw lessons for future advocacy about standards, to promote accessibility of goods, services, and the built environment for visually impaired persons. The EU standards relevant for the implementation of the European Accessibility Act were presented – EN 301549 (ICT), EN 17161 (Design for All) and EN 17210 (Built environment). The key message from the various speakers to civil society organisations was “get involved!”, but it was also pointed out that we relied on AccessibleEU to pool expertise and to help connect with standardisation bodies.
On 16 April, we attended a joint AccessibleEU/Digital Europe workshop "Multimodal solutions to foster accessibility of digital products and services". Digital Europe presented their study for the Commission on the matter, stressing that offering the choice between multiple (accessible) sensory channels communication is the essence of accessibility and inclusion, and that the EAA required to “maximise the foreseeable use”. Participants agreed that multimodality is beneficial to end-users (not only those with a disability) based on personal preferences and specific circumstances, as well as to business to meet the needs of a wide range of users. We intervened to clarify that making accessible-format e-books as required by the EAA does not mean that there should not also be access to books in other accessible formats (braille, Daisy, audio…), to which the Commission representative reacted to reassure us that the EAA only aims to complement, not replace, what is already in place with other legal instruments (e.g., the Marrakesh Treaty as far as books are concerned).
Employment:
On 16 April we participated in a meeting of the Disability Platform’s Employment package sub-group, where the findings of a draft report by the consultancy Empirica for the Commission, on alternative models of employment, were presented. This meeting was more of interest to the European Association of Service Providers and the European Platform for Rehabilitation. We noted however the prevalence of alternative employment models in the European countries covered by the study, with gradual phasing out of sheltered employment toward protected/supported employment in the mainstream job market. We supported the messages that the disability education gap explains a significant share of the disability employment gap, and that gaps in the availability of disability data need to be urgently addressed to track progress.
We also circulated to the EBU Rehabilitation, Vocational Training and Employment (RVTE) network the draft Commission guidelines on vocational rehabilitation circulated, for comments.
EU Disability Rights Strategy:
On 23 April, we followed online an original trilateral-format meeting of the European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) Committee gathering the Parliament’s CRPD Network, the European Commissioner for Equality, and the Belgian Minister for persons with disabilities, to take stock of the mandate 2019 – 2024 achievements and to discuss the next steps halfway in the period of the Disability Rights Strategy 2021-2030. Many of our key issues resonated there, including these:
- The European Parliament should raise its voice on the matter of accessibility of elections, with European elections as a role-model.
- The remaining gaps to the free movement of persons with disabilities, after the adoption of the Disability Card, are acknowledged and should be addressed, because the ambition was greater than to cover travellers.
- The adoption of the Equal Treatment Directive remains a priority for the European Commission, and we look forward to the discussions of the EPSCO Council in May under Belgian steering.
- Further and more reliable data is needed on disability and employment, beyond the new Disability Employment Gap indicator.
- There is still much to be done in the transport sector, to ensure a fully accessible transport chain door-to-door.
And we learned:
- From the Commission, that all flagship initiatives of the Strategy will have been delivered by the end of the year, and that the upcoming progress report will provide the basis for consultations by the end of 2024, to decide on how to move forward, with employment and education certainly as Commission priorities.
- From the future Hungarian Presidency, that their priorities in the area of disabilities will be the formal adoption of the Disability Card, independent living and rehabilitation, and employment (with a focus on good practices in reasonable accommodation).
Miscellaneous:
On 9 April we participated in an EDF Focus Group about increasing the diversity of voices representing EDF at the EU.
On 30 April, we attended a European Commission Strategic Dialogue meeting on “Fair transition towards climate neutrality”, and an Inclusion Europe workshop on “Closing the disability data gap”. More on this later.