Apart from serving as a celebration, this day also seeks to remind us of how much more work needs to be done to ensure that persons with disabilities do not face discrimination in everyday life and are able to enjoy their fundamental freedoms and rights as European citizens.

This week I presented a report to the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee of which I am a member, indicating the key areas that we need to focus on in the coming years. Each year, the Committee on Petitions receives around 1 % of its petitions related to different disability issues and it shows that there is a steady number of citizens each year who face obstacles due to their disabilities.

This committee serves a very important role as a protector of the Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability, ensuring EU compliance within the policymaking and legislative actions at an EU level.

My report takes into account the recent launch of the New Disability Strategy 2021-2030 by the European Commission. The New Disability Strategy aims to improve the lives of persons with disabilities in a barrier-free Europe and to promote social and economic inclusion and participation in society, free from discrimination and in full respect of their rights on equal basis with others. It is important to note that the EU Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, played an instrumental role in establishing this strategy and for that I thank her wholeheartedly.

This strategy will include an examination of certain elements raised first in the Petitions Committee, such as a follow up to the ongoing pilot project of the European Disability Card. Currently there is no mutual recognition of the disability status between EU Member States, which creates obstacles for persons with disabilities when moving to another Member State. The Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 proposes an EU-wide Disability Card by the end of 2023 in order to scale up the current pilot project.

The European Disability Card will be a very important instrument to help persons with disabilities exercise their right to free movement in a barrier-free Europe, therefore, I believe it should be mandatory in all Member States and have a solid legal basis for it to function properly.

I welcome the Commission’s proposal for the creation of the “AccessibleEU” resource centre by 2022. However, I believe that this does not go far enough, and the creation of an EU Agency on Accessibility would strengthen its power and give EU institutions, policymakers and Member States specialist information on accessibility, including policy recommendations.

Finally, I also support the Commission’s proposal to establish a Disability Platform in order to strengthen governance at EU level and for implementation of the new Disability Strategy. However, it is crucial that this sector remains a priority in all EU institutions and agencies, with the central focal point being within the Commission’s General Secretariat.

My report highlights the good work that the new Disability Strategy seeks to establish, but also points out the areas where more concrete action is needed. Let us learn from the accounts of obstacles and hardships that the Petition Committee receives each year when it comes to persons with disabilities and take this opportunity to enact meaningful changes in the EU which will ease the concerns of these citizens and their loved ones.