EU Parliament: a European Disability Card against discrimination and violence

(Strasbourg) The EU “should focus more on fighting the violence (including gender-based violence) and harassment which people with disabilities are disproportionately the victims of, and on filling the occupational gap that puts people with disabilities at a disadvantage”. With today’s resolution, which outlines the need for a European Disability Card, the European Parliament is also asking the European Council to go on and pass the horizontal antidiscrimination directive that is currently at a standstill. The rapporteur, the Maltese MEP Alex Agius Saliba, stated: “People with disabilities keep facing many obstacles and many forms of discrimination in their lives. One of them is the lack of mutual recognition of the state of disability among the member states of the European Union, and this is a huge obstacle to their free movement. It is time to respond to our citizens’ concerns and improve the life of people with disabilities in a Europe without barriers. We must promote their social and economic inclusion and their participation in society, without discriminations and without breaching their rights, and based on equality with everyone else”. The resolution was passed with 579 votes for, 12 votes against and 92 abstentions.
Valentina Bombelli