Mr President, the rapporteur has turned to the problems of the disabled with particular, I would say even excess care, and she deserves congratulations from all our Members. Usually we all offer to say nice things about the disabled. What is not mentioned, however, is that the problem of disability does not concern a separate group of unlucky people; it concerns all of us, because we are all potentially disabled. We just have to remember the thousands of people made disabled every year by accidents at work or on the roads. This fact alone can incite us to the required degree and reduce our negligence to date. We all know that the major revolution in the approach to disability over recent years is that the disabled are not treated simply as people with problems but as subjects of human rights. However, what has not yet been fully realised is that this is not just a question of additional recognition of certain extra rights of a group of people. The recognition of the disabled as people with rights is part of the realisation of the idea of the functioning of democracy. It is therefore a question of the effective exercise of all existing fundamental rights. Τhe right of free expression of opinion presupposes the right to information. Neither of these two rights can be exercised by the disabled unless they are given the right language. Universal access to public services is a dead letter if the obstacles to access to services for the disabled are not removed. The fundamental rights of the elector and the elected remain inactive for certain groups of disabled as long as no care is taken to ensure there are specialised arrangements which make it possible for them to vote. This being so, it is not a question of wishing for more advanced safeguarding of rights which are already generally safeguarded for the disabled or even the principle of the recognition of specialised rights; it is a question of how such a fundamental issue to the functioning of democracy has remained unresolved for so many years. Allow me at this point to ask a simple question: 2003 has been proclaimed the Year of Disability. This sort of celebratory proclamation has a practical impact not only when it is confined to raising people’s awareness or collating material, but also when provision is made for specific timetables. I know that Commissioner Diamantopoulou has an increased interest in and is particularly sensitive to an advanced policy for the disabled. However, the Commission and the Member States do not appear to be on the same wavelength. This explains the fact that the Commission, as the rapporteur has pointed out, is avoiding making any such commitment. I should like, therefore, to ask the Commissioner to convey to the Commission our position that it is not possible for the European Union to reliably exert pressure on the members of the UN to vote for a special convention which will also be binding on developing and poorer countries when the more developed world refuses to set an example in this endeavour. In all events, the basic line which needs to be adopted is not the recognition of new rights, but the effective application of rights already safeguarded in the international conventions recognised by the UN. In this way, safeguarding the rights of the disabled will move away from the idea that it is a question of granting rights and will be established on the perception that it is an obligation based on commitments undertaken internationally.

Political group: PSE