European Parliament resolution on the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions – Towards a barrier-free Europe for people with disabilities (COM(2000) 284 — C5-0632/2000 — 2000/2296(COS))
Date: 2001-04-04
Institutions: Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, European Parliament
Subjects: European social policy, anti-discriminatory measure, disabled person, equal treatment, integration of people with disabilities, single market

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9. People with disabilities

A5-0084/2001

European Parliament resolution on the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the
European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions (cid:129)
Towards a barrier-free Europe for people with disabilities (COM(2000) 284 (cid:129) C5-0632/2000 (cid:129)
2000/2296(COS))

The European Parliament,

(cid:129) having regard to the Communication from the Commission (COM(2000) 284 (cid:129) C5-0632/2000),

(cid:129) having regard to Article 13 of the EC Treaty and Declaration No 22 annexed to the Final Act of that

Treaty,

(cid:129) having regard to its resolutions of 11 April 1997 on the Commission communication on equality of
opportunity for people with disabilities (COM(96) 406 (cid:129) C4-0582/96) (1), 18 November 1998 on sign
language (2) and 15 December 1998 on the Commission report on the evaluation of the third Com-
munity action programme to assist disabled people (Helios II) 1993-1996 (COM(98) 15 (cid:129) C4-0152/
98) (3),

(cid:129) having regard to the resolution of 20 December 1996 of the Council and of the representatives of the
Member States meeting within Council on equality of opportunity for people with disabilities (4) and
to the Council resolution of 17 June 1999 on equal employment opportunities for people with dis-
abilities (5),

(cid:129) having regard to Article 26 of the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights (6),

(cid:129) having regard to the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child,

(cid:129) having regard to the United Nations (cid:145)Standard Rules for the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons

with Disabilities(cid:146) 1993,

(cid:129) having regard to the Joint Declaration at EU level of the social partners of 19 May 1999 on the

employment of people with disabilities,

(cid:129) having regard to the Charter of Luxembourg on a (cid:145)school for all(cid:146) adopted in December 1996 at the

end of the Helios II programme,

(cid:129) having regard to Rule 47(1) of its Rules of Procedure,

(cid:129) having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A5-0084/2001),

A. having regard to the fact that there are 37 million disabled people of all ages in Europe and whereas
the nature of their disability varies greatly; whereas the concept of disability covers inter alia motor,
visual, hearing, mental/cognitive and psychic impairment; and whereas the barriers vary according to
the disability, the age and the sex of the individual,

B. whereas rights of full and equal access to all aspects of life is a fundamental human right for disabled

people as it is for all people,

C. whereas a barrier-free Europe for people with disabilities can only be created when there is genuine
freedom of movement enabling people with disabilities not only to travel throughout the Union but
also to participate, to be integrated, study, work and live freely in any Member State,

D. whereas the best strategy for creating a barrier-free Europe is a two-fold approach involving specific
measures in favour of people with disabilities alongside measures to integrate the needs of people with
disabilities in other fields of Community activity, together with practical arrangements for monitoring
and assessment,

(1) OJ C 132, 28.4.1997, p. 313.
(2) OJ C 379, 7.12.1998, p. 66.
(3) OJ C 98, 9.4.1999, p. 35.
(4) OJ C 12, 13.1.1997, p. 1.
(5) OJ C 186, 2.7.1999, p. 3.
(6) OJ C 364, 18.12.2000, p. 1.

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E. whereas the attitudes and prejudices of many citizens towards disability is one of the greatest barriers
to full integration of people with disabilities in our societies; whereas, in particular, the value of people
with disabilities cannot be measured in terms of efficiency or competitiveness, but as citizens with full
human rights; whereas it is necessary to overcome and eliminate these conceptual and cultural barriers
and obstacles,

F. whereas cooperation, dialogue and advance consultation with disabled people through their represen-
tative NGOs must always play a central part in any strategy or policy concerning people with dis-
abilities, especially at the drafting, implementation and impact-assessment stages,

G. whereas the aim must be to provide places for children with disabilities in the mainstream education
system and to make the latter accessible to everyone; whereas children and adults with disabilities and/
or special educational needs are not always properly integrated into education systems, whereas such
integration frequently does not take into account their learning difficulties and whereas it hinders
disabled adults in their attempts to achieve their individual aspirations, to secure social integration
and to find employment; whereas,
it is therefore appropriate to provide various
types of special school,

in certain cases,

H. whereas on 27 November 2000 the Council adopted Directive 2000/78/EC establishing a general
framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (1) which requires the provision of
reasonable accommodation to enable people with disabilities to have access to, participate in or
advance in employment, unless this imposes undue hardship on the employer,

I. whereas, according to an American survey, the average cost of the conversions required to enable a
person with a disability to work is less than USD 400, and markedly less according to a recent British
survey; whereas in general the additional costs involved in supporting people with disabilities are part
and parcel of society(cid:146)s elementary sense of responsibility towards such people, and recognising the
economic benefits which flow by including disabled people as employees and consumers,

J. whereas the number of unemployed people with disabilities is almost three times higher than average;
whereas people with disabilities are generally unemployed for longer periods than is the case with the
rest of the active population; whereas the available statistics are inadequate and reliable statistics
should and need to be made available; whereas the Commission admits in its communication that
people with disabilities are under-represented in the European civil service,

K. whereas the proposed guidelines for employment policies for the year 2001 provide that each
Member State will implement appropriate measures to meet the needs of disabled people as regards
their integration into the labour market and set national targets for this purpose, in accordance with
the national situation,

L. whereas the conclusions of the Lisbon European Council state that special attention must be given to
disabled people and that every citizen must be equipped with the skills needed to live and work in the
new information society,

M. having regard to the significant effort which has been made by the European Agency for Development
in Special Needs Education in the provision of education-related information to people with disabil-
ities and/or special educational needs, and whereas such activities need to be extended,

N. whereas the measures taken to make transport systems more accessible to people with disabilities
must not be limited to urban transport and to people with mobility problems but also take into
consideration all means of transport and the needs of people with other disabilities,
in particular
sensory impairments,

O. whereas design standards (for example, those applying to lifts or coaches) will, in the long term, put
the European Union at a disadvantage vis-(cid:224)-vis its international competitors, whose products comply
with much higher access standards by virtue of statutory requirements,

(1) OJ L 303, 2.12.2000, p. 16.

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P. whereas the call for proposals under the Socrates Programmes published on 27 September 2000 (1)
specifically mentions the fact that throughout the programme additional support is available to enable
disabled persons to participate,

Q. whereas the new legislation adopted under Article 13 of the Treaty has not hitherto been included in
the negotiations in the social field with the countries which are candidates for accession to the Union,
but whereas the construction of a (cid:145)social(cid:146) Europe calls for such legislation to be included progressively,

R. whereas Article 13 of the Treaty on the European Union is restricted to intergovernmental action and
whereas there is a pressing need to establish binding commitments so that all EU programmes and
policies ensure equal participation by and benefit to people with disabilities,

1. Welcomes the Commission communication, which aims to take into account people with disabilities
in Community activities in the fields of employment, education and vocational training, transport, the
information society and consumer policy;

2. Welcomes the Commission(cid:146)s proposal to declare the year 2003 as the European Year of Disabled
Citizens and the European Nice Council(cid:146)s acceptance in principle of that proposal, in order to raise public
awareness in the Member States and to give a higher profile to disability issues, to encourage synergies
between institutions and the general public as regards such issues, to strengthen the concept of European
citizenship for people with disabilities and to accustom the candidate countries to the Community(cid:146)s
policies for the disabled;

Insists that creating a barrier-free Europe requires specific measures in favour of people with disabil-
3.
ities as well as integrated mainstreaming measures and that such measures should be accompanied by
operational implementation, monitoring and assessment provisions;

Believes that the new action programme to combat discrimination must recognise the realities and
4.
the various types of disability, ensure that NGOs representing all kinds of disability are funded and inform
them automatically of existing aid facilities, and also fund bodies which directly promote social action for
disabled people at all levels, i.e. local, regional, national and European;

Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal for a specific action programme for disabled people

5.
beginning in 2004 to ensure:

(cid:129) the continuation of work done during the 2003 European Year of Disabled Citizens,

(cid:129) the promotion of coordination of disability policies amongst Member States

(cid:129) the development of specific initiatives, including positive action, in order to help disabled people play

a full role within society;

6.
Emphasises the importance of disseminating and promoting a (cid:145)culture of non-discrimination(cid:146) in order
to reduce to a minimum or eliminate the sometimes invisible obstacles which on an everyday basis stand
in the way of the full integration of disabled people;

7.
Advises the Commission and calls on the Member States to give priority to promoting initiatives
designed to help disabled people to become socially integrated, to find work and thus to improve their
quality of life;

8.
Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal for a directive based on Article 13 of the Treaty and
covering all the EU(cid:146)s fields of jurisdiction, the aim of which should be equal treatment for people with
disabilities, whilst recognising their individuality and their right to be different; calls for this to be sub-
mitted in the course of the 2003 European Year at the latest;

Calls on the Member States to bring their laws into line with Article 13 of the Amsterdam Treaty and

9.
to repeal the laws which discriminate against the disabled;

(1) OJ C 275, 27.9.2000, p. 10.

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10.
Calls for Declaration 22 linked to Article 95 of the EC Treaty, whereby Community institutions
must take account of the needs of persons with a disability concerning measures on the establishment
and functioning of the internal market, to be fully integrated into the EC Treaty;

Wednesday 4 April 2001

11.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to improve the availability of statistics on the
various types of disability, specifying inter alia the corresponding aid and the level of activity on the
employment market and within all EU programmes; calls in addition for the bases of a statistical com-
parison to be laid in the form of indicators, so that genuine cooperation can be built up;

12.
Believes that the Commission can only guarantee access by disabled people to its policies and
programmes if comprehensive (cid:145)disability proofing(cid:146) of all legislative proposals is undertaken in advance, so
that proposals to facilitate access by disabled persons are consistently included at the time of decision;

13.
Calls on the Commission to propose to the Member States that they should encourage businesses to
employ disabled workers by means of incentives including tax breaks and reduced social security contribu-
tions; points out that disabled people represent a force within society which is still only partially harnessed
and that fully integrating such people would also be advantageous to the economy;

14.
Calls on the Commission to follow the example of the call for proposals under the Socrates pro-
gramme by specifying that support will be provided for in all appropriate programmes and calls for pro-
posals to enable people with disabilities to participate in them; calls furthermore on the Commission to
ensure that specific financial support for the provision of information concerning the integration of dis-
abled people within the education system is provided on a permanent basis under the Socrates programme
to assist the work of the European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education;

15.
Calls on the Commission to undertake immediately an extensive study of rules and legislation
regarding disability access to the built environment in the Member States, an analysis of which could
have significantly strengthened the Commission communication, and identified concrete proposals for
European action;

16.
Calls on the Commission to ensure that the binding Community standards which it lays down with
regard to access apply not only to buildings but also to all public areas, and to establish a clear timetable
for the production of these standards;

Calls on the Commission, in light of plans to review the EU Lifts Directive (95/16/EC) (1) in 2002,
17.
to present proposals to require the upgrading of all inaccessible lifts in order to meet accessibility stan-
dards;

Repeats its request to the Commission that it propose an action plan to enable people with dis-
18.
abilities to be genuinely involved in the information society and calls once more on the Commission and
the Member States to adopt measures to harmonise the legislation on the provision of on-line services to
people with disabilities;

Calls on the EU institutions to ensure recognition is given in EU legislation regarding access for

19.
disabled people to electronic communications services and equipment;

20.
Reiterates that written documentation produced by the European institutions should always be
made available on demand in accessible formats including large prints, Braille and tape, in particular in
forms fully accessible to blind and partially-sighted disabled people, and to people with learning difficulties;

21.
Calls for more information on the projects funded by the Fifth R&TD Framework Programme
through its key action (cid:145)The Ageing Population(cid:146) and the activity (cid:145)Research relating to the disabled,(cid:146) involving
independent evaluators so as to measure the actual impact;

(1) OJ L 213, 7.9.1995, p. 1.

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22.
Believes that a special section on research into people with disabilities must be retained in the Sixth
Framework Programme for research and technological development, which should include in particular
research into information technologies and initiatives to improve the quality of life; stresses that the crite-
ria for the acceptance of scientific projects must exclude projects which have an exclusively economic and
commercial impact and must scrupulously respect basic ethical standards;

23.
Calls on the Commission to make a greater effort to promote an active role on the part of the
European Research Centres as regards research into technologies designed to improve disabled people(cid:146)s
quality of life and at the same time to increase the Union(cid:146)s competitiveness in research and technological
development;

Calls on the Member States to ensure mutual recognition of national cards carried by people with

24.
disabilities so as to promote real freedom of movement within the EU;

25.
Calls on the Commission to propose, in the legislative provisions on rights of residence and the free
movement of workers that will be amended before 2003 in accordance with the conclusions of the Nice
Summit, a provision allowing for the exportability of disability benefits for workers and dependent persons
within the EU so as to make freedom of movement possible for disabled people and their families; believes
also that, in the proposal for the coordination of EU legislation on free movement which is currently being
studied, the concept of the exportability of social assistance benefits should be included so as to enable
inactive citizens, such as non-working disabled people, to move to and reside in another EU country
without forfeiting, for that reason alone, the disability allowances granted to those who remain within
their own Member State;

26.
Calls on the Member States, when drawing up their action plans on employment for the year 2001,
to provide data regarding the level of employment of people with disabilities, to promote their access to
training, and not to discourage their access to employment, in particular by ensuring that those who wish
to work earn an income at least equal to the level of benefits received by people who are not in employ-
ment and by guaranteeing no discrimination as regards level of income compared to that earned by other
employed persons; calls on the Member States to support positive action intended to promote access by
disabled persons to training and employment;

27.
Calls on all the Member States to declare each year the number of people with disabilities benefiting
from the Structural Funds, including the European Social Fund the European Regional Development Fund,
and the EQUAL Community initiative, broken down by sex and type of disability; welcomes the Commis-
sion(cid:146)s decision to require projects considered for EU funding (including from the Structural Funds) to
incorporate accessibility requirements in accordance with approved standards or recognition of best prac-
tices in the design and construction of buildings and furnishings;

Invites the Council to include, in the new directives on the coordination of public procurement
28.
legislation, social aspects as part of the criteria for the award of public contracts, in order to ensure
equal treatment and integration of disabled people in the labour market;

Calls on the Member States to implement the Charter of Luxembourg on a (cid:145)school for all(cid:146) which
29.
gives children with disabilities early educational guidance, equal opportunities, a place in normal classes,
support for slow learners, teachers specialising in continuous training, appropriate teaching methods and
materials, an opportunity to learn new technologies so that they can improve their quality of life and gain
their independence, and the active involvement of parents at all stages of the education and development
process;

30.
Calls on the Member States to adopt practical measures to support families which have one or more
disabled members; stresses the need, when such measures are devised and implemented, for proper train-
ing to be given to children and young people with disabilities and for equal treatment to be guaranteed in
access to employment; calls, in addition, for suitable support measures to be provided to families caring for
elderly members with disabilities and for families with members of working age who have been forced into
premature cessation of activity by reason of a workplace accident or some other factor resulting in a severe
incapacity;

31.
Stresses the importance of meeting the needs of the parents of children with disabilities and the
families of people with severe multiple handicaps who often lack adequate support which is necessary if
family life and working life are to be reconciled from the time when the disability is diagnosed and
throughout their lives;

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32.
Calls on the Member States to promote suitable vocational training for voluntary workers who
assist disabled people, so that specific assistance can be provided which is appropriate to the various
forms of disability, thus enabling the provision of a high-quality service by voluntary associations and
social cooperatives operating within the Union;

33.
Stresses also the importance of recognition of the needs of family carers, providing most of the care
for disabled older relatives or neighbours; notes that given demographic developments (cid:129) increasing
numbers of older disabled people in need of care, fewer children to provide this care due to smaller
families and increased labour market participation by women (cid:129) family carers need support if the current
level of family care is to be maintained;

34. Welcomes the Council resolution of 2 October 2000 (1) on the rights of air passengers and calls for
its immediate implementation; proposes that the Directorate-General for Energy and Transport should set
up a Disability Unit to promote access for all disabled persons to all modes of transport; calls on the
Commission to draw up Community legislation relating to all modes of transport and including explicit,
binding provisions on access for disabled people;

35.
Reminds the European Institutions of their code of good practice on the employment of people
with disabilities and calls for the creation of an interinstitutional group to examine the conditions of access
for people with disabilities to those institutions: access to and actual participation in meetings and appro-
priate recruitment and employment conditions; calls for such a group to produce regular public reports on
the efforts made to implement the code of good practice and the progress achieved in ensuring that
disabled people (cid:129) employees and visitors alike (cid:129) have full access to all the EU institutions; calls on the
EU institutions to produce reports every two years on the number of disabled people they employ and the
posts occupied by those persons;

36.
Points out the value and wisdom, therefore, of making society as a whole aware of disabled people(cid:146)s
problems in general and of the need for all institutions, the Council and the Commission, the Member
States, regional governments, municipal authorities, NGOs and civil society as a whole to be involved in a
change in cultural and conceptual attitudes towards disabled people;

37.
Calls on the EU institutions to recognise the importance of ensuring the further development of a
structured civil dialogue with NGOs representing people with disabilities in the EU and also in the candi-
date countries; calls for greater attention to be given by the EU institutions to promoting and supporting
capacity-building and structured civil dialogue of representative disability NGOs in the candidate countries;

Calls on the Commission, in negotiations with the candidate countries, to draw attention to the

38.
situation of people with disabilities in all relevant policy areas;

Calls on its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the govern-

39.
ments of the Member States.

(1) OJ C 293, 14.10.2000, p. 1.