Activities of Konstantinos ARVANITIS related to 2020/2209(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the protection of persons with disabilities through petitions: lessons learnt
Amendments (29)
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Recital Β
Recital Β
B. whereas there are around 87 million people with disabilities in Europe1a and approximately 1 % of all petitions received each year by the Committee on Petitions relate to various disability issues, which reveal the difficulties encountered by persons with disabilities and the fact that they face discrimination and obstacles in everyday life and do not enjoy the fundamental freedoms and rights laid down in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD); whereas social protection and employment rights, use of the European Structural and Investment Funds in compliance with EU regulations and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD), and other issues falling within the competences of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, are among the most common disability equality concerns voiced in the petitions received by Parliament; _________________ 1a https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscor ner/detail/en/speech_21_1015
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Recital Β a (new)
Recital Β a (new)
Ba. having regard to the Commission proposal for a Council Directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation (COM(2008)0426, ‘the Anti- Discrimination Directive’); whereas this directive would provide greater protection against discrimination of all kinds but still remains blocked in the European Council;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas it is generally acknowledged that persons with disabilities continue to face multiple obstacles and discrimination in everyday life and that they do not enjoyare deprived of their fundamental freedoms and rights laid down in numerous EU and UN documents, such as mutual recognition of disability status between Member States, access to the open labour market and to work on an equal basis with others, access to public transport, accessibility of the built environment, use of sign languages, financing of and equal access to education and, vocational training and culture and sport, access to personal assistance and community inclusion;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas work-related discrimination against persons with disabilities is interrelated with the lack of inclusive education and vocational training, as well as the segregation and discrimination present in the field of housing, healthcare, and the lack of accessibility of transport and other services and products;
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Recital Δ a (new)
Recital Δ a (new)
Da. whereas there are various groups of persons with disabilities and some of them, for example women, face additional difficulties and multiple discrimination; whereas different forms of discrimination can lead to social isolation and solitude, psychological trauma and depression;
Amendment 70 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Urges a swift revision of the Employment Equality Directive with a view to fully harmonising it with the provisions of the UNCRPD and implementing a participatory process aimed at ensuring the direct and full involvement of representative organisations of persons with disabilities;
Amendment 78 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Calls on the EU institutions and the Member States to reaffirm their commitment to realising inclusive equality for persons with disabilities and to fully implement the UNCRPD, including its Article 27 on work and employment;
Amendment 79 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Urges the European institutions to improve the accessibilities' level and quality in all of their buildings, as well as to remove the existing barriers to the European institutions' websites, debates and documentation, i.e. the accessibility barriers to the communication of the information produced, by e.g. providing translation into the Sign Language of the different Member States, documents in Braille, documents in easy language, among others;
Amendment 105 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on the Commission to conduct a comprehensive update of EU disability strategy and funding programmes with a view to complying fully with the CRPD by constructively involving disability organisations; calls on the Commission and the Member States to involve disability organisations in the dialogue and in all stages of the implementation of the Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021- 2030;
Amendment 118 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the fact that as part of the Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030, an EU-wide Disability Card will be available in a readable form that is acceptable to all service providers in every Member State by the end of 2023;
Amendment 121 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Urges the Member States to ensure that people with disabilities are involved in the policy-making process without any restrictions; notes that the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires full involvement in policy making, which means allowing people with disabilities to participate and be represented in policy formulation and decision making in all areas at European, national and local level, in line with the principle of disability mainstreaming;
Amendment 124 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Amendment 130 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls for the collection of EU-wide disability-related data with a human rights-based approach and of data related to the impact of the so-called COVID-19 crisis on persons with disabilities in order to provide the evidence needed to scale up rapid assessments and urgently develop strategies and prepare interventions together with the Member States to revert the backlash in terms of rights and development observed due to the implementation of containment measures of the COVID-19;
Amendment 133 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to include in European structural and investment fund planning and programming appropriations earmarked for policies and objectives seeking to improve the living conditions of persons with disabilities, while respecting the principles of accessibility and non- discrimination;
Amendment 136 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Member States to implement without delay Directive (EU) 2019/882 (the European Accessibility Act) in order to effectively remove barriers for workers with disabilities, and to ensure the availability of accessible services and the suitability of the conditions under which these services are provided, with an emphasis on services in the community, with a view to implementing national deinstitutionalisation strategies; stresses the need to bring Member State strategies and EU funding more closely into line with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities with a view to ensuring the mutual recognition of deinstitutionalisation and 'independent living in the community';
Amendment 142 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Amendment 147 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Urges the Commission and Member States to introduce public and private sector workplace quotas for persons with disabilities in order to foster an inclusive workplace;
Amendment 149 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Urges the European Commission to improve its support to the public investment that aims to answer effectively to the shortcomings that people with disabilities face while accessing public buildings, infrastructures and virtual governmental services (either national, regional or local); urges, in this sense, the European Commission to provide non- repayable financing and to exclude all the referred public investment from the budgetary deficit criteria;
Amendment 152 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Highlights the need for financial assistance to enable persons with disabilities to hire or employ specially qualified helpers;
Amendment 153 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Calls on the Commission to guarantee that EU funds do not support any measures and programmes that contribute to segregation or to social exclusion; and calls on the Commission to fund actions creating accessible environments, products, services, practices and devices, fostering deinstitutionalisation and supporting personal assistance, and to guarantee that EU-funded actions reach PwD and ensure their active involvement in society;
Amendment 156 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Urges the Member States to ensure adequate social protection and to allow sufficient flexibility in the provision of social support and benefits to ensure their adjustability to the individual needs and career paths of PwD; urges also adequate social security coordination for persons with disabilities, including through the ongoing revision of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004.;
Amendment 158 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Regrets the fact that EU's vaccination strategy has excluded PwD and their support network from the priority groups; urges that PwD and their support network are offered priority access to vaccination; calls, on this regard, that receiving a COVID-19 vaccination must be based on free and informed consent of PwD and that autonomy and legal capacity of all PwD including persons with intellectual disabilities, persons with psychosocial disabilities and autistic persons must not be undermined with justifications such as public good or the best interest of the person;
Amendment 159 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Is concerned about the high unemployment rates of persons with disabilities, especially women, compared to other groups in the European Union; calls on the Commission and Member States to promote and ensure a legislative and policy-making framework for admission to the labour market of persons with disabilities, especially women, including those with hidden disabilities, chronic illnesses or learning difficulties;
Amendment 167 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Points out that the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need for the entire population to be able to benefit from digital transition without any discrimination or exclusion; emphasises the importance of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) for mobility, communication and access to public services for people with disabilities; calls on the Commission and Member States to actively promote the participation of persons with disabilities by providing the appropriate means of ensuring their access to online public services;
Amendment 171 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Calls for sites, where vaccinations are delivered, are physically accessible and live guidance and assistance is provided for those who need it; calls for free or low-cost targeted programs for accessible transportation wherever necessary;
Amendment 174 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6c. Stresses the need for the European Commission's Digital Transition Strategy to ensure the involvement of people with disabilities in the IT development, deployment and use; stresses that AI- based technologies in the workplace should be accessible to everyone, based on the design for all principle;
Amendment 177 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 d (new)
Paragraph 6 d (new)
6d. Underlines the need to earmark adequate funding for resources enabling people with disabilities to make use of the best available technology and equipment in their everyday lives, at the workplace and for social intercourse; highlights the potential of digital solutions such as teleworking and AI applications to provide a labour market foothold for people with disabilities; calls on the Member States to make the necessary investment and give people with disabilities easier access to assistive devices and connectivity, such as special tools for the workplace, mobility solutions or intelligent sensor systems, with a view to facilitating their social inclusion and helping them secure a decent standard of living;
Amendment 180 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 e (new)
Paragraph 6 e (new)
6e. Stresses that access to the necessary digital skills and knowledge of AI can provide a labour market foothold for vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities;
Amendment 181 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 f (new)
Paragraph 6 f (new)
6f. Highlights the importance of social enterprises and cooperatives in the social and economic inclusion and empowerment of people with disabilities, especially women; calls on the Commission and Member States to devote particular attention to the social economy in formulating programmes and policies for people with disabilities;