Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — Equal opportunities for people with disabilities: A European Action Plan’ (COM(2003) 650 final)
Date: 2004-02-25
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: European cultural event, European social policy, discrimination based on disability, equal treatment, integration of people with disabilities

C 110/26

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Official Journal of the European Union

30.4.2004

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘communication from the
Commission to the Council,
the European Economic and Social
Committee and the Committee of the Regions — Equal opportunities for people with disabilities:
A European Action Plan’

the European Parliament,

(COM(2003) 650 final)

(2004/C 110/08)

On 30 October 2003, the European Commission adopted the Communication addressed to the Council,
the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions.

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 4 February 2004. The rapporteur was Mr Cabra
de Luna.

At its 406th plenary session on 25/26 February 2004 (meeting of 25 February 2004), the European
Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 116 votes in favour, no votes against
and one abstention.

1. Introduction

interest

The EESC has received with great

1.1
the EC
Communication ‘Equal opportunities for people with disabil-
ities: A European Action Plan’. The EESC has stressed in many
of its reports the need that the success of the European Year of
People with Disabilities should be measured by the concrete
outcomes it will produce. The Communication provides a good
framework for the follow-up to the European Year of People
with Disabilities

Disabled people (1) constitute 10 % of the population, a
1.2
percentage that increases with the ageing of our societies. This
will mean almost 50 million people in the enlarged European
Union. If we add to this figure the relatives of disabled people,
it is clear that we are not speaking about a small minority of
the population.

The EESC has continued during this year to increase its
1.3
focus on disability issues. The drawing-up of an opinion on the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled
People (2), the organisation of two seminars devoted to the
employment of disabled people and to the evaluation of the
European Year, the preparation of a guidance note on main-
streaming of disability in the work of the EESC and the organi-
sation of an exhibition by disabled painters at the EESC head-
quarters are some examples of this work. The cooperation
between the EESC and the European Disability Forum, together
with other Organisations, has continued to prove very useful.

1.4
The EESC considers that the European Year of People
with Disabilities has contributed to an increased awareness of
disabled people in society. The awareness of the need to a
rights-based approach to disability has been one of the major
goals of the European Year. However, it has to be noted that
the different national initiatives for further legislation to protect

(1) In view of the new approach to disability which has been promoted
through the European Year of People with Disabilities, it might be
the right time to revise the terminology used to define disabled
people and disability, which in many countries has not evolved and
still reflects an outdated approach.

(2) OJ C 133 of 6.6.2003.

disabled people from discrimination are leading to an increase
in the gaps among Member States. This increasing gap is not
only detrimental to the idea of a social Europe but will also
create additional barriers to a real internal market.

The initiative of

1.5
the United Nations to promote a
thematic Convention on the rights of disabled people has
contributed to the recognition of disability as a human rights
issue.

The new European Constitution will

1.6
incorporate
stronger references to disability issues, including a clause which
will require mainstreaming of anti discrimination throughout
all policy areas. The potential of this new clause requires some
further analysis.

1.7
The forthcoming incorporation into the EU Treaty of
the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is very welcome, in par-
ticular as Article 21 prohibiting discrimination against,
inter
alia, people with disabilities, and Article 26 on integration of
persons with disabilities,
recognise the need for measures
designed to ensure their independence, social and occupational
integration and participation in the life of the community.

The new Eurostat figures on employment of disabled
1.8
people show that 78 % of
the severely disabled people in
working age are outside of the labour force as compared to
27 % for those without a disability. Within those in the labour
force, the unemployment rate is nearly twice as high among
severely disabled people compared to non-disabled people.
Only 16 % of those who face restrictions at work are provided
with some assistance to work (3). The gender breakdown of
the situation is even worse for
these statistics shows that
disabled women.

(3) ‘Employment of disabled people in Europe in 2002’, Population and
Social Conditions THEME 3 – 26/2003 Population and Living
Conditions, Eurostat, 25.11.2003.

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2. Comments
proposal

and

suggestions

to the Commission

2.1
The EESC welcomes the fact that the European Year of
People with Disabilities has produced a concrete action plan for
the period 2004-2010. However, it needs to be stressed that
the action plan somehow lacks ambition and the EESC would
like therefore to propose some additional elements, to be taken
into account, if possible, already in the first phase of the action
plan and, if not possible, in the period after 2005.

2.5
The EESC welcomes the proposal in the EC Communica-
tion to use the structural funds to promote the social inclusion
of disabled people. This should be done in a two-track
approach. On the one hand, disability specific projects should
be funded and on the second hand all projects to be funded by
Structural Funds have to comply with compulsory accessibility
criteria. This two track approach has to be included in the new
EU regulation for Structural Funds, which the European
Commission plans to present in May 2004. An outcome of the
current process of revision of the Structural Funds must be the
recognition of disability and disabled people as a key area and
target group to be taken into account at a Community level as
well as in the Member States, regardless of the new financial
perspectives.

A previous EESC opinion (4) suggested to launch an
2.2
open method of coordination in disability policies. Therefore,
the EESC welcomes the proposal reflected in the EC Communi-
cation to produce biennial reports on disability. The EESC
considers that these reports should be based on common guide-
lines in order to allow benchmarking among countries. While
employment is obviously a priority of disabled people, other
policy areas should also be covered by these reports and the
social
inclusion and full participation of disabled people in
society should be overall guiding principles and objectives. The
EESC proposed that the results of these biennial reports should
be presented to the Council of Employment and Social Affairs.
The involvement of representative disability organisations at
national and EU level
in this process is considered of vital
importance.

2.3
The EESC welcomes the references included in the EC
Communication on the capacity building project undertaken by
the European Disability Forum in ten accession countries. In
order to build on the work undertaken in this project, the EESC
would like to see special attention given to disability organisa-
tions in the ten acceding countries during a transition period.
Targeted measures should allow for these organisations to
increase their knowledge and therefore become really active in
the implementation of EU policies which favour disabled
to disability organisations from those
people. The support
candidate countries which will not join the EU in May 2004
has to be increased.

2.4
The EESC welcomes the proposal in the EC Communica-
tion to prepare a working paper on how to mainstream
disability in all of the Employment Guidelines. To complement
this, the EESC proposes the establishment of a proper moni-
toring mechanism to allow the preparation of country specific
recommendations to Member States on their
inclusion of
disability issues. Priority should be given in this respect to the
employment of disabled people on the open labour market,
including the employment of disabled people by public authori-
ties and bodies as well as special measures to address the
employment of disabled people in rural areas. The role of the
social partners in this process is of vital importance. In view of
the demographic evolution of our societies, the increase of the
employment rates of disabled people can have a huge and posi-
tive impact also from an economic point of view.

(4) The integration of disabled people in society, OJ C 241 of

7.10.2002.

2.6
The EESC has been monitoring closely the process to
arrive at the new EU directives on public procurement (5). The
potential of public procurement to promote the employment
of disabled people, the accessibility of public transport and the
built environment, as well as the production of accessible
goods and services, is huge. The EESC therefore welcomes the
commitment to produce a tool kit to facilitate the inclusion of
accessibility requirements for Information and Communication
Technologies in public procurement calls and suggests to
extend this exercise to other products and services.

The EESC stresses the negative implications of the non
2.7
transposition of the 2000/78 EU directive on equal treatment
in the workplace in most of the EU Member States. The EESC
urges the European Commission to fully use the available tools
against those Member States that have not implemented the
directive or have not implemented it properly. Additionally,
measures need to be undertaken to increase the capacity of
disability organisations, social partners and the judiciary system
in order to ensure an effective implementation of the directive.

The EESC has

asked in several of

2.8
its previous
opinions (6) for a disability-specific directive based on Article
13 of the EU Treaty to combat discrimination of disabled
people in all areas of life. The EESC is therefore extremely
disappointed not to see any reference to this initiative in the
EC Communication. While being aware of the current difficul-
ties to launch successfully such an initiative, the EESC would
have at least expected an acknowledgement of the need for
such an initiative, as well as number of preparatory actions
which would have paved the way for such an initiative to be
launched.

2.9
The EESC considers that such a directive would ensure a
minimum level of protection against discrimination in all areas
of life across the European Union. As it would cover the area
of access to goods and services, it would also contribute to a
more efficient single market.

(5) Opinion on the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament
and of the Council on the coordination of procedures for the award
of public supply contracts, public service contracts and public work
contracts. OJ C 193 of 10.7.2001.

(6) The integration of disabled people in society , OJ C 241 of
7.10.2002, and Proposal for a Council Decision on the European
Year of People with Disabilities 2003 - COM(2001) 271 final -
2001/0116 (CNS), OJ C 36 of 8.2.2002.

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2.10
The EESC agrees with the importance of mass media to
contribute to a better image of disabled people in society. The
EESC would welcome the establishment of a European network
on media and disability, which would further contribute to a
better portrayal of disabled people in media by, among others,
promoting the exchange of good practice among mass media.
The example of the UK Broadcasting and Creative Industries
Disability Network could serve as a model.

The EESC welcomes the focus of the EC action plan on
2.11
accessibility. However, the EESC considers that the proposals
made will not properly achieve the objective. An adequate
policy framework needs to be established, which will provide
financial incentives to companies to make their premises and
services accessible. This should be complemented by awareness
raising campaigns targeted at companies to show the impor-
tance of disabled people as consumers. When needed,
this
needs to be complemented with binding legislation to make
accessibility standards of compulsory compliance.

2.12
The EESC welcomes the report produced by the expert
group on access to the built environment and requests the
European Commission to put in place all of its recommenda-
tions, in particular those related with the Directive 89/106/EEC
on Construction Products. The EESC also supports to undertake
follow-up action on the study on harmonised criteria for good
accessibility of tourist sites (7). The EESC reminds that proper
legislation and proper use of public funds will be key elements
of success to promote the objective of accessibility of tourist
sites.

2.13
The EESC also welcomes the report on assistive tech-
nologies recently presented by the European Commission, and
looks forward to the implementation of its recommendations,
specially taking into account the single market, as well as the
need for Member States to increase transparency as regards
products and reimbursement systems.

3. Additional recommendations and commitments

3.1
The EESC has stressed in its previous reports the need to
mainstream disability in all policy areas. It therefore welcomes
the forthcoming new budget line which will finance a pilot
project on mainstreaming of disability actions as a follow-up
initiative to the European Year of People with Disabilities. The
EESC considers this pilot project as a first step towards a
disability specific action programme which will be focused on
the mainstreaming of disability in all relevant policy areas.

disposal of policy makers
Commission,
dology;

the European
throughout
related to the impact assessment metho-

— the funding of actions to increase the capacity of national
to be actively involved in the
disability organisations
preparation of the National Action Plans on Employment
and Social Inclusion;

— the establishment of statistical
real impact of mainstreaming;

indicators to measure the

— the funding of actions to exchange information on best
practice of mainstreaming of disability at national level;

— in all the measures to be financed under this pilot project,
special attention should be given to disabled people from
the acceding Member States;

— the funding of a European network on media and disability.

The EESC looks forward to the forthcoming Green
3.3
Paper on non discrimination and stresses the need for a clear
commitment to a disability-specific directive.

3.4
The EESC welcomes the involvement of large European
companies in the European Year of People with Disabilities.
Their role as catalysts towards other companies should not be
underestimated. As mentioned in its previous report, the EESC
would welcome the establishment of a European network on
business and disability as one of the concrete outcomes of the
European Year of People with Disabilities. This network could
contribute to the improvement of the legislative framework to
increase the employment of disabled people and the production
of accessible goods and services, therefore increasing the busi-
ness case for disability. The network would also provide useful
advice to new companies interested in becoming more actively
involved in disability issues, with a particular effort to be made
towards SMEs.

3.5
The EESC welcomes the campaign led by the European
Trade Union Confederation and its members. The EESC stresses
the important role of trade unions and encourages them to
continue increasing their focus on disability issues.

The EESC would like to suggest some actions which

3.2
could be undertaken under this pilot project:

— the preparation of a guideline document on how to main-
stream disability in all policy areas which will be at the

(7) See also EESC report

INT/173 ‘Socially sustainable tourism for

everyone’, OJ C 32 of 5.2.2004

3.6
The EESC has in all of its previous reports highlighted
the importance of the involvement of representative disability
organisations in all levels of policymaking. The representative
character of the European Disability Forum is accepted by all
EU institutions and its special status needs therefore to be
acknowledged. A strong and independent European Disability
Forum which acts as a watchdog is one of the best guarantees
that the rights of disabled people will continue to be respected
in all EU initiatives.

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3.7
The role of the European Disability Forum would not be
possible without its national and European members. There-
fore, the financial support the European Commission provides
for European impairment-specific organisations, members of
the European Disability Forum, is of vital importance and has
to be maintained. The diversity of the disability movement can
is provided to the
financial support
only be respected if
different European impairment-specific organisations.

3.8
The EESC would like to see the establishment of a moni-
toring structure of the EC action plan. The participation of all
including the
relevant partners in this monitoring structure,
European Disability Forum, will be of vital
importance to
ensure the success of the action plan. The EESC would like to
be associated to this monitoring structure.

3.9
The EESC welcomes the impact the European Year of
People with Disabilities has had to include disability on new
policy agendas, like youth and culture. The Council Resolution
‘Accessibility and Cultural Infrastructure and Cultural Activities
for People with Disabilities’ (8) is a good example of this. The
EESC stresses the importance to ensure that all projects funded
in the areas of culture, youth and education with EU funds
should comply with accessibility criteria.

3.10
The new European Commission work programme for
2004 provides several initiatives which are relevant for disabled
people and the commitment to mainstream disability should
lead to adequate references to disabled people in these initia-
tives. Some of these initiatives are:

— the mid term review of e-Europe and the revised e-Europe

Action Plan for an enlarged Europe;

— the sustainable development strategy, the new Commission
proposal on internal market services and the future ones on
services of general interest;

— the proposal for a new generation of programmes in the

domain of education and culture post-2006;

— the Communication from the Commission on the rights of

passengers in the transport sector;

Brussels, 25 February 2004.

— the Commission Communication on Social Inclusion Strate-

gies of Candidate Countries;

— the Commission proposal for the review of the European

social policy agenda beyond 2005.

The EESC welcomes the references to the High Level
3.11
Group on Disability and considers that the role of this Group
should be strengthened. The participation of
the European
Disability Forum in the meetings of this Group needs to be
permanent, in line with how the Advisory Committee on Equal
Opportunities for Women and Men works. The social partners
at EU level should also be involved in the work of the High
Level Group.

3.12
The EESC requests that in all future work in the area of
human rights, the rights of disabled people need to be specifi-
cally addressed. The EESC looks forward to the results of the
study which is currently being undertaken on the situation of
disabled people in residential
institutions and which should
provide not only an overview of the situation, but concrete
proposals on alternative community based measures for this
large group of disabled people.

3.13
The EESC welcomes the guidance document on devel-
opment cooperation and disability which has been presented in
March 2003 and which was prepared in cooperation with the
European Disability Forum and the International Disability and
Cooperation Consortium. The EESC urges
the European
this guidance note in order to
Commission to implement
ensure that disabled people will benefit
from development
cooperation funds, also in situations of emergency and humani-
tarian aid.

3.14
The EESC commits itself to continue strengthening its
focus on disability issues. The efforts made by the EESC to
ensure full accessibility of its new premises and services, show
the real commitment of the EESC, which wants to be seen as
leading by example in the protection and promotion of the
rights of disabled people and their families.

The President
of the Economic and Social Committee
Roger BRIESCH

(8) Council Resolution ACCESSIBILITY OF CULTURAL INFRASTRUC-
TURE AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABIL-
ITIES, 5-6.V.2003, 8430/03 (Presse 114) 23.