General News
Structural Funds: The European Parliament Sends A Strong Message On Disability To The Members States
Written by European Disability Forum (EDF)
Media 9 May 2012 /// Preventing and eliminating barriers to accessibility for persons with disabilities should be a condition to fulfil in order to receive European money. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities should be at the core of the European Funds allocated to Members States and the European regions. It is crucial the funds are effective and ensure implementation of the UN treaty. During a workshop organised on 8 May by EDF and MEP Danuta Hübner (EPP, Poland), the European Parliament sent a strong messages to the Members States: the removal of crucial conditionalities is not acceptable: the future Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 will have to include persons with disabilities.
The European Parliament is now in the driver’s seat concerning the future cohesion policy: with the Treaty of Lisbon, it has become a formal co-legislator in the cohesion field. This provides the Members of Parliament with a unique opportunity to ensure that the Structural Funds meet the needs of all European citizens, including 80 million European with disabilities.
The new Regulations on the EU Structural Funds have been released by the Commission last year in times of financial cuts. The MEPs together with key actors have brought to the EDF’s workshop a strong political message supporting people with disabilities. They have focuses on four main issues:
- the importance and support to the ex ante conditionalities,
- the need to enhance accessibility provisions in the regulation,
- ensure partnership on equal footing with the representative organisations of persons with disabilities,
- the Structural Funds are crucial test for the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Source: http://www.edf-feph.org/Page_Generale.asp?DocID=13855&thebloc=29976
