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Briefing for Yannis Vardakastanis
Name of conference: People with disabilities: Active players in
the Internal Market
Conference venue: Charlemagne Conference Centre, Brussels, Room
S3
You will speak at conference openingon 5th
December 2007 from 10.15 to 10.45
Title of session: Lisbon Strategy and the Internal Market:
Disability rights andperspectives
Your time allocated: 15 minutes
1. The European Disability Forum is the voice of 50 million
disabled people in theEuropean Union.
2. 50 million disabled people that have seen in the last decades
that the Internal Marketis not delivering to them the same rights
as others in society.
3. 50 millions of European citizens that want to travel, to
work, to live, to buy, to enjoy allpossibilities offered by the EU
market.
4. All these millions of citizens are frustrated to see how few
changes the legislation onthe internal market has brought to
them.
5. The European Union adopted at the Amsterdam Treaty the
declaration 22 ensuringthat the Internal Market development should
take into account the rights of peoplewith disabilities. The
declaration 22 has been very good words but very little deeds.
6. The assessment today is that the European Union has failed to
develop an inclusiveinternal market for all in Europe
7. Therefore EDF saw the internal market review as an
opportunity to tackle this issueand to give content again to the
declaration 22 of the Amsterdam treaty.
8. It was the moment to take courageous decisions, such as in
the Structural Fundsregulations and the air passenger rights, to
recognise that discrimination and lack ofaccessibility are still
creating social exclusion and obliging people with disabilities
tobe 2ndclass citizens.
9. The disability movement cannot accept to be citizens without
the same rights,1.300.000 signatures have been collected to show to
the European institutions thatwe cannot accept passivity on the
European Commission to develop new legislationto prevent
discrimination in all areas of life, including the internal
market.
10. The European Commission has signed the UN convention on the
rights of peoplewith disabilities and will hopefully ratify it as
soon as possible.
11. There is no possible ratification of the Convention if the
European Union does nottake concrete steps to revise the whole
existing Internal Market regulation.
12. The Convention is clear on its general principles:
accessibility, individual autonomy,freedom to make ones own
choices, etc If Europe continues promoting barriers inservices, in
goods, in movement of disabled workers or students, etc. This is
againstthe Convention.
13. The European Commission is therefore in front of a
historical decision: Do we wantan internal market for all people?
or do we want just free movement of economicinterests, forgetting
citizens rights?
14. This is a decision that has to be taken also in the
perspective of the forthcomingLisbon Treaty which will put non
discrimination as a horizontal principle.
15. EDF has to recognise also a positive development on the
areas such as transport,employment or e-accessibility. We also
acknowledge that in the current Commissioncommunication Single
market for 21
stCentury Europe there is a clear commitment
to advance in the establishment of accessibility standards for
consumers withdisabilities.
16. But the current review of the single market is far bellow
the expectations of thedisability movement for a more inclusive
Europe.
17. The European Commission maybe fears that there is no added
value for taking aEuropean action this field. Let me ask you some
questions:
