News/Press

Brussels, 20 May 2008 – The European Parliament today voted in support of a legislation tackling discrimination outside employment on the ground of disability, age, religion, and belief and sexual orientation.

The report on “Progress made in equal opportunities and non-discrimination in the EU (transposition of Directives 2000/43/EC and 2000/78/EC)”, submitted by the MEP Liz Lynne, was adopted by the European Parliament.

“Implementation of the existing legislation is a priority, infringement procedures are underway; however, some of them concern technical issues only, so stakeholders and MEPs should not believe that implementation of the two directives is that bad. All Member States are good-willingly trying to implement the anti-discrimination directives – this is beyond question”, said in plenary the EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Vladimir Spidla before the vote.

The Commissioner also added that the European Commission is in its final stage of deciding what measures should be proposed and that it will submit its proposal at the end of June.

Although the vote on the report was very tight, and division was clear among political groups, representatives from all political groups highlighted the need to legislate to fight discrimination against persons with disabilities.

“I am delighted to appear to have the support for a comprehensive directive. Specific issues relating to different grounds can be covered in one legislation; Member States shouldn’t worry that more burden would be imposed on employers, as employment is covered by the existing legislation and will not be part of the new package”, said Liz Lynne, the Rapporteur on the report, in her concluding remarks before the vote.

"The EPP-ED Group considers that the most compelling challenge is to first combat the discrimination of the 84 million disabled people living in the EU, representing about 17% of the total population, by a European Directive to ensure equal rights for them throughout the Union", commented the MEP from the EPP-ED Group Edith Bauer after the vote.

In addition, the Parliament announced its interest for “the development of the Community definition of disability, which will allow disabled people from all over the European Union to enjoy the same rights wherever their situation within the European Union”.

The European Disability Forum President Yannis Vardakastanis expressed his support for the Parliament move as well: “The European Disability Forum welcomes the spirit of the report and considers it as a positive step towards achieving a disability specific directive which has been also the main objective of its One Million For Disability campaign”.

The campaign, which collected over 1.3 million signatures in support of such a directive in the course of 2007, has been taken into account by the European Parliament and mentioned by a number of MEPs in plenary.

For more information on the EDF campaign “1million4disability”: www.1million4disability.eu

The European Disability Forum (EDF) is the European umbrella organisation representing the interests of 50 million disabled citizens in Europe. EDF membership includesnational umbrella organisations of disabled peoplefrom all EU/EEA countries, as well asEuropean NGOs representing the different types of disabilities, organisations and individuals committed to disability issues. The mission of the European Disability Forum is toensure disabled people full access to fundamental and human rights through their active involvement in policy development and implementation in Europe.