Protecting the rights of people with disabilities in the EU

In a roll-call vote, members of the EU Parliament voted to strengthen the rights of people with disabilities. The resolution focuses on how to reduce barriers to access to work, education, healthcare, housing and digital services. The plan includes, among other things, an EU-funded guarantee of employment and qualifications, measures to improve access to education and training and the call for an EU-wide definition of “disability” in order to ensure equal rights in all member states. The starting point is the EU Strategy for the Rights of People with Disabilities 2021-2030, which the EU Commission adopted in March 2021. It includes, among other things, initiatives such as the European Disability Card, the AccessibleEU center and guidelines for independent living. However, there are still significant hurdles in accessing employment, social protection, healthcare, education, housing and digital offerings, and previous measures have often had only limited practical impact. What is therefore required is more commitment, clear and measurable goals and greater involvement of organizations that represent people with disabilities. Particular emphasis should also be placed on reducing the employment gap, especially for women and young people with disabilities, as well as consistently implementing and, if necessary, strengthening EU accessibility regulations. Attention: The voting results shown on the right only reflect the voting behavior of the 96 German MEPs and not that of all 720 MEPs. Overall, the draft resolution was adopted with 490 votes in favour, nine against and 109 abstentions. Of the German MEPs, 68 voted for and none against. There were 13 abstentions.

Vote breakdown