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We signed a further European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD)-led joint statement under the label “EUFunds4Social” on the next EU long-term budget: "Building on what works: an EU budget that delivers for people and regions".
We had further exchange with the Council of Europe in a last-chance effort to defend our participatory status, but their decision to end it seems disconnected from any objective motivation other than reducing the scope of their dialogue with civil society organisations.
Employment
We attended the European Civil Society Seminar on “Social and employment policies in the European Semester 2026”. During the event, the European Commission presented an overview of the 2026 European Semester cycle and highlight key strategic priorities in the employment and social fields. In addition, a dedicated session provided the opportunity to meet and exchange on the work and activities of Economic Counsellors. We participated in the breakout session on “Social protection (including access and coverage of social security benefits and services, housing accessibility)”, to present the EBU background note on the compatibility of disability benefits with employment in EU Member States.
Importantly, we await approval from our members in Bulgaria, Greece, Luxembourg, and Portugal – the 4 EU countries standing out in our background note for bad practice – to proceed with lobbying the relevant regional desks for the European Semester 2027.
We responded to a public consultation by the European Commission’s DG Competition on the proposed revision of the EU State Aids Regulation, in so far as it impacts the employment of persons with disabilities. We shared our response with DG JUST and DG EMPL, as well as with the European Disability Forum (EDF) and EASPD.
We endorsed an EDF open-letter call for an EU Disability Employment Guarantee (following the example of the Youth Guarantee) as part of phase II of the Disability Strategy. We circulated the call to our membership for further endorsements.
Inclusive design
We are finalising a first draft EBU issue paper on inaccessible household appliances. Before comments from the Advocacy Committee and eventual approval by the Board.
We circulated to our membership and added to our website a link to a new World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) guide on various treaties, including the Marrakesh VIP Treaty. The guide contains article per article guidance for interpretation and implementation. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Treaty, we are exploring the possibility of an AccessibleEU event.
After the re-establishment of the Taskforce on accessible payment terminals within the Accessibility Working Group, a questionnaire was sent to the Advocacy Committee and to the Accessibility and Digitalisation Working Groups, on the state of play at national level.
We responded to the European Commission’s public consultation on the review of the EU Cybersecurity Act, to make the case for accessibility by design of authentication and verifications mechanisms, such as captchas, multi-factor authentication, and other security-related access systems.
So far, we have received very little input from our membership for a response to the European Commission’s public consultation on the revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). Meanwhile, we have been solicited by EDF, along with other ENGOs, on the idea of a joint survey on the AVMSD user experience, ahead of the revision of the AVMSD at the end of the year, and we have agreed in principle.
Mobility
We attended an EDF meeting on the state of play of the implementation of the EU Directive establishing a European Disability Card and a European Parking Card for persons with disabilities. In follow-up, we asked for feedback from our membership to be shared with EDF. Good news from our Swiss member: Switzerland is willing to join the European Disability Card Scheme, although it does not have a national disability card in place.
Further to earlier internal concertation with DBSV (leader on this file) it was agreed that EBU – based on input from DBSV – will produce by the end of this year a position paper covering both the perspective of the review of the EU Acoustic Vehicle Alert System (AVAS) Regulation and the discussions at UNECE on the ‘soft horn’ proposal of France.
Miscellaneous
Leader of Youth Forum participated in Youth Policy Dialogue with Commissioner Hadja Lahbib in Brussels (19–20 March), as part of the consultation on the EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities up to 2030.
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) launched Call for Applications for renewal of its Advisory Panel on the Political Participation of Persons with Disabilities – with a request to circulate with our network for possible candidates, which we did.
We engaged our membership in the EU to join in lobbying to promote Francesca Sbianchi's candidacy for the EDF Board.