It is an honour to co-chair the Disability Intergroup once again

Press Release by MEP Ádám Kósa

Ádám Kósa was re-elected as Co-Chairman of the Disability Intergroup today in Strasbourg. The Fidesz MEP has held this position continuously since 2009; thus, his re-election is a recognition of his successful work over more than a decade.

The European Parliament’s Disability Intergroup was re-established at the initiative of Ádám Kósa in December 2019. The task of the Intergroup is to closely coordinate all disability-related work of MEPs from different political groups.

Following the tradition, the EP’s largest group gave two chairs of the intergroup. Ádám Kósa and Stelios Kympouropoulos (Greece) are co-chairs from the European People’s Party Group, which has three MEPs with disabilities. As the work of the Disability Intergroup is based on the dialogue between different political groups, it is clear that positions and responsibilities are shared between them. As such, Katrien Langensiepen, a German Green Party member with a disability, was elected co-chair, and the socialist (S&D) and liberal (Renew) groups nominated co-chairs too.

“I am honoured to have gained confidence again. It feels great to be recognized for my achievements so far,” said Ádám Kósa after his election. “I consider it important that three of the four Members of the European Parliament with disabilities will play an active role in the intergroup. This guarantees that we will continue to represent the interests of the nearly 100 million people with disabilities in Europe in high quality,” explained the Fidesz MEP.

Background: The Disability Intergroup is the oldest one in the European Parliament, which exists since 1980 and was first chaired by an MEP with disability when Ádám Kósa was elected in 2009. As the chairman and later co-chair of the intergroup, the MEP has organized dozens of events in the European Parliament over the last ten years. He is convinced that disability is not a right- or a left-wing issue, but is supported by different political groups.