Today, the European Parliament aproved the content of the provisional agreement on the European Disability Card and European Parking Card, which had been reached in February. The agreement was approved with 613 votes in favour, 7 against and 11 abstentions. The report on the extension to third-country nationals was also approved.
The European Disability Forum celebrates this moment, which we expect to mark the end of the political decision-making process. However, we regret that bureaucratic barriers will delay the publication of the text (and, therefore, the start of the countdown to implementation) until after the European elections.
Debate in the Parliament
We welcome the generalised support for this agreement.
Lead negotiator MEP Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová said: “People with disabilities have been fighting for this agreement for 15 years” and “they were at the centre of our concerns.” She outlined advances to the Directive achieved by the European Parliament negotiators, including the extension to people undertaking EU Mobility Programmes, the Cards being issued free of charge and the commitment to a further analysis of issues of freedom of movement in 5 years.
Read a full summary of the debate.
Legal editing of the text
While the political process is now finished, there are some delays regarding the legal editing of the text and its legal translation to the 27 EU languages. We have advocated for prioritising this file in the translation because the deadline for implementation – for the Cards to be a reality – will only start after publication of the text.
This means that the official text could not be approved before the European elections. We were told that it was only due to the unusual quantity of legal texts that were approved in the last few months, and we are reassured that the content of the official text will not change.
Despite this, we call on EU Member States to consider this delay when implementing the Card by anticipating their national implementation deadlines.
An EDF spokesperson person stated:
We need the Card sooner, not later—the ball is now in the Member States’ court to fast-track its implementation once the Directive is published.