Disability-related issues can only be improved together with the stakeholders

The European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs adopted by a large majority a report examining whether the European Union and its Member States treat people with disabilities equally employment and occupation. Ádám Kósa, EPP Group responsible of the dossier, welcomed the fact that during the negotiations they managed to defend the principle that the report should focus mainly on people with disabilities in the fields of employment, education and health care.

Kósa explained that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) is binding on the EU, its institutions and its Member States, which are obliged to implement it directly and in full, including Article 27 on non-discrimination in employment and occupation. „Unfortunately, however, people with disabilities are still often denied the right to work on an equal basis with others”, Kósa pointed out.

According to Kósa, this is often due to the fact that the opinions of those involved are not sought. The report therefore calls on the EU institutions and Member States to build on the expertise of organizations of people with disabilities (DPOs) and to actively involve them in disability decisions. „Since I became a Member of the European Parliament in 2009, I have been in constant consultation with Hungarian DPOs because I am convinced that they themselves know best what exactly they need”, the Fidesz politician pointed out.

Kósa also referred to the legislation on European statistics on households, in the drafting of which he participated in the EP between 2017 and 2019 on behalf of the EPP Group. The text adopted now, recognizes that this is also the reason why data on disability is already being collected across the Union, for example on the education or training of people with disabilities who have so far been left out of the statistics.

“The European Commission will be putting its post-2020 disability strategy on the table within weeks, so it is very important that the European Parliament contributes to the legislation with this report, right in the beginning,” Kósa concluded.

Background: In 2010 Ádám Kósa was the rapporteur of the European Parliament’s report on the mobility and inclusion of people with disabilities and the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020. In 2017, he was EPP shadow rapporteur of the report on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a common framework for European statistics on persons and households based on data collected at individual level by sampling.