EN    EN  COMMISSION OF THE E UROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 13.10.2005 
COM(2005) 486 final 
  
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT , THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN 
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMI TTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE 
REGIONS 
on the implementation, results and overall as sessment of the European Year of People 
with Disabilities 2003 
(Submitted by the European Commission in  accordance with Article 13 of Council 
Decision 2001/903/EC) 
   
{SEC(2005) 1252} 
 
EN 2   EN TABLE OF CONTENTS 
Implementation and key actions at EU level.............................................................................. 3 
Implementation and key actions at national level ...................................................................... 7 Key results of the EYPD Campaign........................................................................................... 9 Annex 1: Background............................................................................................................ ... 11 
Annex 2: Financial issues...................................................................................................... ... 13 
Annex 3: Detailed breakdown of expenditu re commitments in 2002 and 2003 (Budget Line 
04 04 05 ex B5 806) ............................................................................................................ ..... 14 
Annex 4: Overall assessment and long-term policy outlook.................................................... 15 Annex 5: External evaluation of the EYPD Campaign............................................................ 16 
 
EN 3   EN  
Implementation and key actions at EU level  
Defining priorities for the EYPD campaign a nd its implementation at EU level was an 
involved process. It required a great deal of coordination between the EU and national levels 
and a number of key partners had to be involved, in particular the European Disability Forum 
- the non-governmental umbrella organisation representing people with disabilities at 
European level. As an integral part of th e Commission’s approach to the Year and as a 
fundamental principle in the area of disability, disabled people and their representatives had to 
be involved in all the key aspects of de signing and implementing the EYPD campaign.  
As much of the impetus to establish a Europ ean Year of People with Disabilities had come 
from disabled people themselves, and after lo bbying by the European Disability Forum, the 
Commission intensified its re lations with the European Disability Forum in 2002 and 
consulted this organisation and others exte nsively during its prep arations and throughout 
2003. This ensured that the views of people with  disabilities were ta ken on board and that 
their own representatives were able to de velop the main messages to be passed on. The 
Commission also wanted to use the EYPD campaign to promote its approach to disability and 
underline the policy issues it was considering at EU level. The flexibility of the approach 
adopted for the EYPD and the ow nership created by the decentra lised approach ensured that 
there was room in the campaign for all organisati ons to put forward their views, even if these 
did not necessarily coincide. 
As a framework for the implementation and de velopment of the EYPD, the Commission, in 
cooperation with its partner or ganisations (particularly the European Disability Forum) 
launched a specific promotional and informa tion campaign. The principal aim of this 
campaign was to give a clear identity to the EYPD, both visually and in terms of a message 
which would reinforce the EU nature of the init iative, but which would also reinforce actions 
taken at national, regional and local level. The campaign was managed by PR consultants 
Ogilvy. 
The core concept of the campaign was to catalyse a year-long march of people with 
disabilities across Europe. This was based on th e idea that, since disabled rights are a human 
rights issue, those who are di sabled should be put at the forefront for the campaign for 
change. By avoiding a traditi onal promotional campaign implemented from outside, the 
Commission sought to create ownership by disabl ed people of the con cept of the EYPD by 
ensuring that they were directly involved in  promoting the campaign and by encouraging their 
mobilisation and participation. The slogan “Get  on board!” was developed for the campaign 
to emphasise the participative nature of th e EYPD, and this was supported by a campaign bus 
travelling from country to count ry during 2003. The bus underlined  the European nature of 
campaign, linking all the national campaigns a nd messages, and underlining the point that 
disability is an issue which concerns the w hole of the EU, despite the specific inherent 
differences between particip ating countries. During 2003, the campaign bus was present at 
211 events in 181 cities or towns in 16 count ries and covered a distance of 45 000km.  
The logo chosen for the campaign was distinc tive and clearly identif iable. This logo was 
made easily available on a number of internet  sites and in the current 20 Community 
languages, plus those of the acceding states a nd of Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey .Under the 
 
EN 4   EN campaign rules all organisations  and individuals wishing to be involved with the EYPD 
campaign were encouraged to use the logo.  
In order to support the whole EYPD campaign, and to provide a resource for organisations 
and individuals wishing to pa rticipate in the EYPD, an EU -wide website was set up. This 
website ( www.eypd2003.org ) was fully interactive and easy to access1, and all key aspects 
and functions were available in all Community languages. In contrast to previous European 
Year campaigns, the website allowed pages to be created by third parties who wished to 
publicise their actions or events, upload docum ents and create contacts. This allowed those 
who might not normally have the necessary facil ities to be present on the internet for the 
duration of the EYPD. In addition to basic information on the EYPD, the website also 
contained links to the official EYPD sites in the participating countri es and a diary and photo 
section, updated daily with news  of the EYPD march and bus.  
The Commission also launched two calls for pr oposals at EU level. The first concerned 
information campaigns at EU level to support the main EYPD campaign, and was aimed at 
specific populations within the overall target group of the campaign. One example of this was 
an innovative campaign established by the European Union of the Deaf2, which established a 
specific website for the EYPD with informati on available in the main  sign languages of the 
participating countries. The second call rela ted to transnational projects, where the 
Commission financially supported a small number of large proj ects, allowing beneficiaries 
from a number of Member States to jointly organise a project to support the aims and 
objectives of the EYPD. 
Another key action undertaken by the Commission at EU level to support the EYPD was the 
Corporate Participation Program me. Backed by the PR contractor, Ogilvy, this programme 
sought to bring large companies on board th e EYPD campaign by allowing them to 
participate in a unique venture and encouragi ng them to create awareness and support for the 
EYPD and undertake specific act ions. These actions were encouraged with a view to 
reinforcing already existing positiv e approaches to disability, and with a view to acting in a 
socially responsible manner to wards people with disabilities by promoting employment and 
training opportunities, developing design- for-all products and services, improving 
accessibility, etc.  
Although responsibility for oversee ing the EYPD campaign and acti ons at EU level lay with 
the Commission’s Directorate-Gene ral for Employment and Social Affairs, it was possible to 
mobilise all of the services whose work had so me connection with disability issues and to 
ensure that the EYPD was included as a partic ular priority for action in 2003. This was the 
result in particular of the commitment of va rious Commissioners and Di rectorates-General to 
the aims of the EYPD and a desire to support the mainstreaming of disability issues in 
general. Examples include the stepping up of fu nding of specific projects  within the different 
action programmes in the area of education, training, youth and culture; the adoption by the Commission of a revised Code of Good Prac tice for the Employment of People with 
Disabilities (C(2003)4362); actions  in the area of relations with  the then candidate countries 
focusing on disability issues; and a number of actions in the area of policy on the information 
                                                
 
1 WAI-AA standard – it was not possible with the ava ilable resources and the interactive nature of  the 
site to achieve a AAA rating 
2 http://www.eudeaf2003.org/   
 
EN 5   EN society, including a specific conference on e-accessibility3. This latter theme was also 
addressed from the technical research point of view of by the EC Joint Research Centre. 
Much of this work was coordinated successf ully through an Interser vice group on disability 
issues, ensuring optimum complementarity across different Comm unity policy areas.  
In order to reinforce the key messages and demonstrate the commitm ent of the EU, many 
major European events and conferences al so adopted the EYPD campaign as a key 
component, either by focusing exclusively on disability issues or by including certain 
disability issues within a wider programme. On e example of this was the European Mobility 
Week4 in 2003 to highlight accessib ility issues for people with di sabilities. EU agencies, too, 
became involved in the EYPD and undertook specifi c actions to support the aims of the year5. 
A number of the EU institutions also made  specific contributions  to the EYPD through 
actions (such as newly accessible websites or accessibility reviews of their buildings) or 
through specific events. These included the Eur opean Parliament of Disabled People hosted 
by the European Parliament6 and organised with the suppor t of the European Disability 
Forum and the Commission, a conference on the regional dimension of disability policy 
organised by the Committee of the Regions7, and an event organised by the European 
Economic and Social Committee8 on the integration of people w ith disabilities into European 
society and the world of work. Other Eur opean organisations also made their own 
contributions to the EYPD through specific actions and events. The European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education (E ADSNE), supported by DG EAC, organised a 
hearing of young people with special educationa l needs in the European Parliament. Young 
people from 22 countries had the opportunity to  express their feelings, ideas and wishes 
concerning their education and their future. Du ring the hearing there was an exhibition of 
materials and information from specially invi ted EC project representatives from Leonardo, 
Youth, Minerva and Grundtvig, as well as the EASDNE and UNESCO. Europe 21 held an 
event on corporate social respons ibility and disability issues
9 and a conference organised by 
the European standards organisations examined how their work could help the issue of accessibility for all
101112. These are but a few examples of the many hundreds of specific 
actions and events which took place at EU level. 
In order to coordinate ma ny of these different activities, and in  particular to c oordinate actions 
at EU level with the specific EYPD activi ties and campaigns at national level, the 
Commission established an advisory committee as early as January 2002. This committee continued to work until the end of 2004, coor dinating the preparation of measures and 
financial assistance for the EYPD, overseein g the EYPD promotional and information 
                                                
 
3 http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressRel easesAction.do?reference=IP/03/1375  
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleas esAction.do?reference=IP/03/1183  
http://voice.jrc.it/events/ev2003/ eaccessibility/_eaccessibility_en.htm http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pre
ssReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/03/ 1183&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN
&guiLanguage=en   
4 http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleas esAction.do?reference=IP/03/1240  
5 http://europe.osha.eu.int/good_practice/person/disability/  
6 http://www.europarl.eu.int/comparl/emp l/conferences/20031110/default_en.htm  
7 http://www.cor.eu.int/document/en/rioja_16_17_dec.pdf  
8 http://www.esc.eu.int/pages/en/acs/events/28 _11_03_disabilities/final_programme_en.pdf  
9 http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleas esAction.do?reference=SPEECH/02/623  
10 http://www.cenelec.org/NR/exeres/09E 16A1B-E757-4F85-B542-872A21C7C15F.htm  
11 http://www.cenorm.be/cenorm/ne ws/pressreleases/guidelines.asp  
12 http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleas esAction.do?reference=SPEECH/03/161  
 
EN 6   EN campaign and developing the key messages in relati on to disability issues. It was made up of 
representatives of the participating countries, observers fr om the then candidate countries, 
representatives of the Eu ropean Disability Forum13 and other partners concerned, such as the 
European Association of Service Pr oviders for People with Disabilities14. The social partners 
were invited to participate in this committee, but did not take up the invitation.  
The committee took key decisions relating to  the allocation of gl obal grants to the 
participating countries to support the co-fundi ng of EYPD projects and actions, approved key 
elements of the campaign such as the choice of logo (which, for the first time in an EU campaign, was chosen through a po ll on the internet) and the pr omotional items, and adopted 
a series of common criteria for the selection of projects to be co-funded to  ensure that the key 
EYPD objectives set out in the Council Decision were taken into account. This approach also 
sought to ensure fair treatment between those applying for co-funding in different 
participating countries. The committee member s also performed a lia ison function between 
the implementation of the EYPD at EU leve l and implementation at national level, in 
particular by coordinating with the work of  the national coordinating bodies. The committee 
was also able to cooperate closely with the two EU presidencies (I taly and Greece) during 
2003 and thus ensure a clear political profile fo r the EYPD campaign within the actions of the 
Presidencies.  
The committee played a key role in ensuring  the success of the EYPD, working principally 
through consensus on all key decisions and benefiting from the experience and commitment of all those who particip ated in its work. This required ex tensive input and involvement from 
all members throughout the preparation, executi on and follow-up activities for the EYPD.  
                                                
 
13 http://www.edf-feph.org/  
14 http://www.easpd.org/  
 
EN 7   EN Implementation and key actions at national level  
At national level, the particip ating countries were required to  set up a national coordinating 
body. In line with the Council De cision establishing the EYPD, it was the responsibility of 
this body to develop national st rategies/priorities for the EY PD, oversee the implementation 
of the global grant, ensure that people with di sabilities participated in the decision-making 
processes and manage the call for proposals whereby financial assistance was given to 
specific actions to support the EYPD. Duri ng 2002, the national coordinating bodies played 
an important role in undertaking preparatory ac tions, creating awareness about the aims of the 
EYPD and, in most cases, organising the na tional launch event for 2003. In most of the 
participating countries, the coordinating body wa s linked to or locate d within a national 
ministry. In all countries, representatives of pe ople with disabilities were involved in these 
bodies, as required by the Council Decision.  
The work of these national bodies was essentia l to the success of th e EYPD campaign and to 
widening the scope for adapting the EYPD to th e national context and specific situation of 
people with disabilities.  The structure of the national coor dinating bodies varied significantly 
from country to country, with some opting for relatively large bodies with representatives 
from many different interest groups. Other countries preferred to focus on the input of a 
number of key individuals with  specific experience of disabil ity issues. Often the national 
bodies were supported by regional and local groups  established specifically  to join the EYPD 
campaign and to maximise awareness locally and mobilise disability organisations, in particular, to participat e actively in the EYPD.  
The external evaluation of the EYPD confirms  the enormous commitment of those involved 
in the national coordinating bodi es, many of whom worked unr emunerated, and their vital 
contribution to achieving the aims of the year at  the level closest to the citizen. Many had to 
work with limited resources and deal with large numbers of applications to take part in the campaign. A number of participating countrie s established specific local committees to 
support schemes and activities throughout the y ear and ensure the involvement of key 
disability organisations. A major ity of those consulted in the coordinating bodies considered 
that involving disabled  people in this manner would pave  the way for greater cooperation 
between disability organisations and governme nts. In addition, many countries chose to 
involve local authority organisa tions and representatives of the social partners at national 
level in the coordinating bodies. Reflecting the situation at EU level, corporate involvement 
was encouraged at national level in some countr ies, while in others representatives of arts 
associations and voluntary bodies pa rticipated, and in others polit ical parties took part in the 
respective national coordinating bodies.  
In all participating countries, cal ls for proposals were made to encourage project promoters to 
apply for co-financing to support specific actions a nd measures in line with the different aims 
of the EYPD. Again the approach varied be tween countries, with some preferring large 
projects, often national or regional in focus, to achieve specific impacts. Other countries 
focused on smaller local projects, thus allo wing greater numbers of organisations to 
participate in the EYPD. Many thousands of pr oject applications were received in most 
countries and almost 800 proj ects were supported with EU f unding allocated to the EYPD. 
However, many countries chose to provide further funding to support additional projects, and the external evaluation showed that, in many countries, projects which could not be funded 
from EU and national sources were able to se cure funding from other sources. In addition, 
 
EN 8   EN project funding from other EU actions and pr ogrammes increased the available financial 
support. In this way, the decentralised approach was able to mobilise enormous support for the EYPD and increased the sense of owners hip of the campaign. For the Commission, this 
approach created specific diffi culties of coordination, as it was necessary to  adapt to the 
specific approach in each pa rticipating country. The decentr alised approach also made 
establishing transnational projects very difficu lt, as it was necessary to take account of 
different funding regimes and priorities in each country. However, the representatives of the 
coordinating bodies indicated a hi gh level of satisfac tion with the delivery mechanism and the 
decentralised structure adopted for the EYPD and with the coordination undertaken by the 
Commission.  
Another key task of most national coordinating b odies was to help organise the route of the 
EYPD bus as it passed through each participatin g country. Many of them arranged for the bus 
to attend specific EYPD events or  organised actions to coincide with its passage. In addition 
to the many thousands of spectators and particip ants reached by these events, the bus created 
a specific media focus and, for example, many t housands of articles or items of television 
coverage related to the EYPD bus. The Commission also recrui ted specific campaign 
supporters in each country who had overall respons ibility for the bus and its route while it was 
on their territory. The majority of these campaign supporters we re appointed by the European 
Disability Forum. The Commission’s PR contractor  organised specific tr aining to help them 
benefit as much as possible from the presence of  the bus. In order to su pport the promotion of 
the campaign, most participating countries also  established special na tional websites, linked 
to the main EYPD website and providing sp ecific information for a national audience. 
Moreover, the Commission also established a me dia network in the Member States, with a 
group of experts supporting th e media activities of the national coordinating body and 
promoting the EYPD campaign.  
It is clear from the external evaluation of the EYPD that the choice of a decentralised 
approach increased the efficiency and output  of the campaign and amplified the overall 
impact of the year at national level. At the same time, the overall EU dimension was 
maintained through the common criteria for select ion of proposals, the logo and slogan of the 
EYPD campaign and the EYPD bus. As indicate d below, the national focus of much of the 
campaign also helped to maximise the financia l impact of the year, allowing many thousands 
of organisations to participate in and make a specific contributi on to the aims of the EYPD.  
 
EN 9   EN   
Key results of the EYPD Campaign 
One of the key challenges of the EYPD camp aign was to promote a wider understanding and 
acceptance of the main issues related to disa bility. The opinion poll on the EYPD which was 
carried out on behalf of th e Commission in September 200315 asked EU citizens for their 
views on disabilities in the c ontext of the EYPD. It revealed  that one third of the EU 
population were aware of the EYPD  and its purpose. Given the nature of this  campaign, the 
number of international even ts which seized the public’ s attention in  2003, and the 
availability of resources at European and at natio nal level to carry it out, this can be seen as a 
very positive result.  
The journey of the campaign bus throughout the EU was a key element which succeeded in 
emphasising the European nature of the EYPD  campaign. It provided disabled people and 
their organisations with a valuable tool to promote and high light their actions and to generate 
considerable media attention for them. This was reflected, for example, in the large number of 
articles in the press featuring references to the bus. The bus was also effective in that it 
managed to reach many of the smaller cities and towns in the participating countries, getting 
the message across to a public which is not often involved directly in such European campaigns.  
In terms of media volume, the analysis c onducted on behalf of the Commission, looking 
specifically at the printed media and the internet , showed that EU-wide coverage of disability 
issues increased in 2003 by betw een three and over ten times. On  average, coverage in the 
Member States rose by just over 600%, with the EYPD campaign specifically mentioned in 
over half of this coverage. In  addition, the EYPD website app eared to be successful and an 
important vector in the campaign, with almost 40 percent of media coverage using material, 
logos or pictures from the site and over half of  media coverage making re ference to the site or 
giving its address. This situati on was also replicated at national level, with reference to 
national EYPD websites in particular. Other data related to the official EYPD site also confirm its success, with an average of over 2 000 unique visits per day and over half a 
million unique visits in 2003.  
The Corporate Participation Programme can also been seen as a positive result of the EYPD. 
It is clear that for many of the participati ng companies it led to or strengthened an existing 
long-term commitment to disability issues. In this respect, a number of companies in the programme have decided to c ontinue their coopera tion in this area through a network at 
European level. 
At national level, the commitment to the decentr alised approach, involving the drawing up of 
national priorities for the EYPD and ensuring the involvement of disabled people throughout 
the campaign, can be seen as a key result and on e of the main factors in  the success of this 
campaign. Much of this work of cooperation a nd consultation will continue, as many of the 
bodies formed, or those alrea dy existing and built up during 2003 decided to continue their 
work beyond 2003. The data submitted by the partic ipating countries on the projects which 
were supported during the EYPD by EU fundin g, national funding, a combination of both, or 
                                                
 
15 http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/index/eurobar_highlights_en.pdf   
 
EN 10   EN funding from other sources, have shown particular ly positive results. In some countries, some 
of these projects will con tinue to receive funding beyond 2003. The decentralised funding 
approach chosen by the Commission in coopera tion with the participating countries has 
clearly had a particularly high leve rage effect within the campaign.  
Given the devolved approach to the EYPD and responsibilities assumed at national, regional 
and local level to undertake actions  and measures, it would be im possible to list or describe 
the concrete results from this campaign. There are many thousands of such results reproduced 
throughout the participating countries and beyond. These take a variety of forms: 
• new partnerships between public, privat e and non-governmental organisations; 
• commitments by mainstreaming bodies and organisations to promote the rights, 
participation and inclusion of people with disabilities across a wide range of fields 
(employment, training, education, culture, sport, politics etc) 
• actions providing for better awareness and understanding of di sability issues; 
• measures to improve the physical accessibility of the built environment, including transport 
systems; 
• measures to improve access and combat exclusion from the information society and 
promote better e-accessibility; 
• new national legislation to pr otect the rights of  people with disabilities and promote non-
discrimination; 
• regular reporting on disability issues at different levels; 
• developing measures to better support the families of disabled people. 
In this respect, the EYPD has achieved its obj ectives of raising awar eness, exchanging and 
disseminating good practices and reinforcing co-o peration between the various stakeholders. 
 
EN 11   EN  Annex 1: Background 
2003 was designated the European Year of People with Disabilities (E YPD) by the European 
Union16, with the aim of raising awareness about th e rights of the EU’s disabled citizens to 
participate fully and equally within society. The EYPD was also about laying the foundation 
for action over the longer term and providing a new political impetus across Europe to achieve equality of rights fo r people with disabilities. 
All of the then 15 EU Member States formally participated in the EYPD, together with 
Norway, Iceland and, latterly, Liech tenstein (hereinafter “the pa rticipating countries”), and its 
overall implementation in the EU Member States and the EEA countries was the 
responsibility of the European Commission. Although no formal  requests to participate were 
received from the then candidate countries  for EU accession, many of these countries and 
other states beyond, such as Switzerland, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria, developed 
campaigns and undertook a wide range of activ ities and actions in support of the EYPD. 
In contrast to previous European Years,  the Commission proposed that much of the 
responsibility for the implementation of the EYPD  should be decentralised to the level of the 
participating countries. To this end, each count ry was required to appo int and set up a national 
coordinating body, composed of a representative  range of organisations representing people 
with disabilities and other rele vant stakeholders. Much of th e EU funding made available to 
support the actions and activities undertaken in the EYPD was awarded directly to national 
authorities to be spent in cooperation with the national coordinating body. 
Although the main target audience of the EYPD campaign was the public at large, from the 
outset the Commission was committed to ensuring that 2003 should be a year of and not for 
people with disabilities. In a ll the key decisions and actions carried out during the EYPD, the 
involvement of people with disa bilities themselves, at  all levels, was of crucial importance. 
The Commission therefore ensured that representa tives of people with di sabilities at European 
level were involved in the development of priori ties for the EYPD, the actions to be supported 
and the main messages for the campaign. At nationa l level, the participa ting countries had to 
ensure that representatives of people with disabilities were pa rt of the national coordinating 
body, and in particular that pref erence was given to organisati ons representing or defending 
the rights of people with disabi lities when awarding co-funding. On e of the aims of the EYPD 
campaign was to ensure that people with disabi lities realised that 2003  was their year, during 
which they could become involved so as to guaran tee that the issues of most interest to them 
were high on the political agenda. 
The EYPD budget at EU level was initially agreed at €12 million. However, following a 
budgetary amendment adopted by the European Parliament in  December 2002, a further €780 
000 was added to the EU budget allo cated for this action. Together  with the contribution from 
the EEA countries, the final budget fo r the EYPD was almost €12.977 million. 
At EU level, the Commission established an advisory committee (the “Disability Advisory 
Committee”), composed of official represen tatives of the participating countries, 
representatives of European disability organi sations and other organisations concerned. The 
social partners at EU level were also invite d to sit on this committee. At EU level, the 
                                                
 
16 Council Decision of 3 December 2001 (2001/903/EC)  
 
EN 12   EN Commission also contracted and managed an  EU-wide promotional campaign, which sought 
to create an overall identity fo r the Year, to mobilise all key stakeholders and to support the 
campaigns developed at national level. 
At national level, in line with the specific pr iorities they adopted, the national coordinating 
bodies had responsibility for using EU co-funding to promote the aims of the EYPD and to 
support projects at local, regional, national and transnational leve l. Additionally, the 
Commission awarded funding to par ticipating countries to  organise launch events at the start 
of 2003, and additionally to the two countries holding the EU Presidency in 2003 (Greece and 
Italy) for the EYPD opening and closing events  and a conference on the media and disability. 
Overall, it can be considered that the EY PD was successful. The campaign was able to 
mobilise large numbers of organi sations and individuals across Eu rope in support of the aims 
of the EYPD and it acted as a catalyst for, or in support of, a number of major actions and 
policy measures. These served to create a vast  amount of general awareness about the rights 
of the EU’s disabled citizens and increase the visibi lity of issues related to disability. This was 
reflected especially in the media coverage of  disability issues in general and the EYPD 
campaign in particular, through the written pres s and through televisi on and radio coverage. 
Moreover, the global grants awarded to each pa rticipating country to support projects had a 
particularly important leverage  effect, generating huge intere st in undertaking actions during 
2003 and creating a ‘snowball’ effect as envi saged in the original Commission proposal. 
 
EN 13   EN Annex 2: Financial issues 
As stated above, an amount of almost € 13 million was made available from the Community 
budget to support actions and activities for the EY PD. Almost two thirds of this amount was 
passed directly to the participa ting countries in the form of th e global grants awarded to each 
country to co-finance projects and actions at nati onal, regional and local level, or to support 
the national launch events, opening and closing events (organised by the EU Presidency 
countries) and one thematic conference. In accordance with the Council Decision, this 
funding was awarded to the designated authority in each participating country – a public-law 
body nominated by the state to ta ke responsibility for managing the funds awarded. In most 
countries, the designated authority was th e ministry with the main policymaking 
responsibility for disability issues.  
In accordance with the Council Decision, all Comm unity funds awarded as global grants and 
for national launch events could be used to fina nce up to 50 percent of the eligible costs of 
actions. Community funds awarded for the opening and closing events and thematic conference did not represent more than 80 percen t of the total eligible  costs. In order to 
manage the Community funds awarded as gl obal grants, a funding agreement was signed 
between the Commission and each designated au thority, setting out the measures to be 
implemented, the criteria for choosing beneficiar ies, the conditions and rates of assistance, 
and the arrangements for monitori ng, evaluating and cont rolling the use of the global grant.  
Generally, Community co-funding fo r projects in the participati ng countries was significantly 
less than 50 percent. In fact, the average across the 17 participating countries was around 20 
percent. The other main sources of funding at national level were the national, regional and 
local authorities. In some of the participating countries, th e designated authority required 
project beneficiaries to supply the additional fund ing either from their own resources or from 
other sources, such as sponsoring.  
From figures supplied to th e external EYPD evaluators
17 it appears that for every 1 euro from 
the Community budget 4.5 euros were invested at national level in specific EYPD projects. 
Given the very large number of projects submitted in many of the participat ing countries, it is 
clear that limiting the EU financing rate to  a maximum of 50 percent was a positive and 
effective approach in this particular instance.  
At EU level, the Commission took responsibility for managing all the calls for tenders and 
calls for proposals for actions at EU level (w ith the exception of the Presidency and Media 
conferences). The overall commitment rate ac hieved for all actions supported from the 
Community budget was 98 percent (see annex 1).  
                                                 
17 Rambøll management – see annex 2 
 
EN 14   EN Annex 3: Detailed breakdown of expenditure commitments in 
2002 and 2003 
(Budget Line 04 04 05 ex B5 806) 
 Description Amount
(in €1000)
Total EU contribution to co-finan ced projects and actions in the 
participating countries  8,299
 Global grants  6,686
 National Launch events  685
 Opening ceremony  300
 Media and Disability Conference 228
 Closing ceremony  400
Total EU contributions to co-f inanced projects at EU level  1,144
 NGO information campaigns 337
 Transnational Projects 582
 Parliament of Disabled Persons 225
Total EU  contributions to pr omotional activities  2,403
 EU Information and Promotional 
Campaign 2,400
 EDDP Postcards 3
Total EU spend on evaluation and study activities 809
 Evaluation of the European Year 194
 Eurobarometer survey 165
 Study on situation of disabled people in 
institutions 450
GRAND TOTAL 12,655
 
 
 
EN 15   EN Annex 4: Overall assessment and  
long-term policy outlook 
Through the EYPD campaign, the Commission wanted  not just to draw attention to  all the 
barriers that persons with disa bilities face, but also to id entify new ways of overcoming 
barriers, as well as new methods and approaches  to do so. As part of its follow-up to the 
EYPD and in order to ensure the produc tion of sustainable results beyond 2003, the 
Commission adopted the Comm unication on the policy follow-up to the EYPD – ‘Equal 
opportunities for people with disabilities: A European Action Plan’18. In particular, the 
Communication puts forward an Action Plan fo r the Commission with a time horizon of 
2010.  
The objective of the Action Plan is to pr ovide a reference point and a framework for 
mainstreaming of disability rights and issu es into relevant Community policies and for 
developing practical measures in  crucial areas to enhance th e integration of  people with 
disabilities. In this respect, the Commission has made a specific commitment to ensuring that 
the impetus created by the EYPD will continue well beyond 2003, and has delivered its own considerable contribution to ensuring the longer-term policy effects of many of the key 
objectives of the EYPD. Building on the cont ributions of a large number of Commission 
departments during 2003, supporte d by the Commission’s Disability Inter-service Group, the 
work to integrate a mainstreamed approach on disability issues across Community action and 
to enable people with disabilities to part icipate equally in Community programmes and 
initiatives will continue. Moreover, the momentum created since 2003 has certainly 
contributed to raise awareness on disability issues in the scientific community and is 
triggering high quality research proposals. 
The EYPD campaign has also succeeded in underscoring the European dimension of 
disability issues (through the very strong EU  identity of the campaign, the march and bus 
route through all the participa ting countries). Across the whole EU, disabled people have used 
the EYPD campaign to put the issues of most c oncern high up the politic al agenda and in the 
forefront of the public mind. In many of the pa rticipating countries, particularly through the 
considerable media coverage of disabil ity in 2003 and the strong and positive images 
portrayed, disability and the situ ation of people with disabilities has been, for the first time, a 
major subject of attention and a high level of public awareness has been achieved. This has 
reinforced the messages at all levels that disa bility does not mean inability, nor does it equate 
to lack of ability.  
As indicated in the Commissi on’s Communication on the follow-up to the EYPD, all of the 
then Member States adopted new legislation or developed the new policy measures which 
were implemented or announced in 2003. Thes e concern not only the updating of existing 
laws and the passing of new ones, but also the promotion of new approaches, innovative 
methods and positive measures. It is clear that the EYPD has provided the impetus in Member 
States for new policy developments towards achieving equal opportunities for people with 
disabilities, triggering a definitive shift toward s more pro-active measures in favour of people 
with disabilities, while laying the foundations on which future long-term action can be built.  
                                                
 
18 http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2003/oct/com650_final_en.html   
 
EN 16   EN Annex 5: External evaluati on of the EYPD Campaign 
The Commission engaged an external contractor to evaluate the EYPD campaign. In view of 
the decentralised approach to the EYPD, this wa s a particularly difficult task. The very nature 
of a transfer of respons ibility to the national level, and th e efforts made by those involved at 
all levels to encourage owners hip of the EYPD and mobilise the largest possible number of 
organisations and individuals in  the campaign, meant that it wa s not possible to monitor the 
implementation or impact of these actions directly and individu ally. Therefore, the 
methodology adopted for the external evalua tion required by the Council Decision was to 
analyse all the key products of the EYPD campai gn and interview many of the key players at 
EU and national levels. The evaluator also und ertook a number of case studies, looking at the 
approach to the EYPD in some of the participating countries or  specific actions  at European 
level, and circulated a questionn aire to all of the projects which received EU co-funding. The 
summary of the evaluation report is  attached in Annex 2 below. 
The overall conclusion of the evaluation was that the approach  taken with respect to the 
establishment of an overall EU campaign with de centralisation of some of the implementation 
of the EYPD to national level was the correct one. This, in particular, allowed the EU to address and focus on many of the challenges which people with disabilities still face on a 
daily basis in all participating countries. At th e same time, the approach helped to create a 
campaign that was very relevant and appropriate  within its broad overall objectives, while 
addressing national priorities a nd the evolving needs within th e participating countries. The 
evaluation concludes that the approach also  allowed maximum invol vement by people with 
disabilities in the EYPD and s upported the prioritisa tion of resources in line with the key 
issues identified at national level. However, it is clear that overall resources to support the 
EYPD campaign were often limited and the back ing of a number of key EU and national 
organisations and individuals was vita l to the success of the campaign.  
The evaluation report also f ound that the EYPD campaign acted  as an important lever for 
disability issues at different levels, as it wa s able to influence and define actions, prompt 
various decision-makers to focus upon disabi lity issues and put disability higher up the 
political agendas. However, the evaluators cons ider that attention should have been focused 
more on highlighting good practice and innovati on, and on identifying ways in which actions 
could be replicated and transferred to other c ontexts. The report also established that all key 
players in the implementation of the EYPD (the Commission, disability organisations, 
national coordinating bodies, gove rnment authorities etc) impl emented it in line with the 
Council Decision establishing the EYPD and, give n the limited human and financial resources 
available at different levels, managed to achie ve the participation of a wide variety of 
stakeholders including national, regional and lo cal authorities, social  partners, and most 
importantly disability organisa tions and other NGOs. The report notes a similar involvement, 
especially of disability organi sations, in the projects co-fin anced from the Community budget. 
Finally, the report concludes that the decentralis ed approach and delivery mechanism adopted 
by the Commission was a strong vehicle and a signi ficant factor in the success of the EYPD 
campaign.