EU to present plans for European Disability Card

The European Commission will present its proposal for a directive for the approval of a common Disability Card throughout the EU today, Wednesday, in line with the community strategy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030.

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Its objective is to allow mutual recognition of disability conditions (and the degree and benefits granted) in all EU states, for which it will follow the model of the European parking permit for people with disabilities.

Perhaps obvious, but the UK is not included in either scheme, following Brexit.

Citizens with disabilities from a member country who decide to move to another will be able to have access to the same aid and support that was recognised in their country of origin, especially in the areas of culture, leisure, transportation and the sport.

Currently, people with disabilities who move must begin the procedures for recognition and application for benefits in their new residence, which, in practice, represents a significant barrier on their freedom of movement in the EU.

Therefore, the approval of the European Disability Card will represent a very relevant advance when it comes to advancing equal rights and opportunities for this group.

In February 2016, a series of pilot trials on the European Disability Card were launched in Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Malta, Romania and Slovenia, which the European Commission evaluated during the period 2019-2020.

Following this, in March 2021, the Commission adopted the Strategy on the rights of people with disabilities 2021-2030, in which it committed to proposing the creation of the European Disability Card.

This is a historic demand of the disability social movement, which is expected to be definitively approved in November, during the Spanish presidency of the EU.

However, the Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities ( Cermi ) demanded that the European Commission gives “maximum formal and material ambition” in the regulation of said card, which, in its opinion, should take the form of a Union regulation and not directive.

“Whether the purpose of the Community Executive is ‘minimums or maximums’ will depend on the terms of the proposal, which will establish the scope, effects and obligations of the mutual recognition of disability situations between the Member States and before the European institutions. “Cermi explained.

It is “crucial” that European regulations “adopt the form of Union regulations – the highest regulatory level of Community provisions”, they defended, since this implies the direct application of its precepts in all Member States, without the need for processes of adaptation or transposition that slow down the entry into force and involve regulatory changes between countries.

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