The European Commission released the European Semester Spring Package on 3 June, and disability issues are more present than ever!
The European Semester is an annual cycle where the European Commission assesses the economic, fiscal, and social challenges in each EU country. The Package includes not only assessments in the form of Country Reports, but also Country-Specific Recommendations. The recommendations take the analysis from the Country Reports and turn them into a short list of necessary actions.
You can read our report, which extracts the full list of relevant assessments and recommendations.
How was 2026 different from other years?
Social issues have become more present in these packages, and the 2026 cycle was a record-breaker for disability issues.
This not only reflects increasing challenges for persons with disabilities, but also more focus from the European Commission on disability rights in EU Countries.
We counted 591 references to persons with disabilities in the Country Reports alone. The Country Reports for every single Member State feature specific references to the needs of persons with disabilities.
Certain Member States saw extensive mentions, namely:
- Ireland and Cyprus with 56 mentions each;
- Romania with 52 mentions;
- Croatia with 42 mentions;
- Lithuania with 36 mentions;
- Latvia with 35 mentions;
- Poland with 31 mentions.
The two most addressed issues were barriers to employment, and the risk of poverty and social exclusion. Access to inclusive education is also very high on the agenda.
Other frequently raised issues include:
- increasing focus on accessible and affordable housing for persons with disabilities;
- transition from institutions to independent living and community-based services;
- adequacy of social protection schemes;
- access to assistive technology.
The Country-Specific Recommendations are much less specific. They almost exclusively group all marginalised groups together without naming them individually. There were only 2 recommendations related to disability specifically: one for Poland on employment, and one for Estonia on education.
Examples of assessments and recommendations
The country assessments state both positive and negative trends in social issues. As examples:
- The Country report for Cyprus states, “a new housing subsidy scheme for older people and persons with disabilities (2025) increased funding to EUR 1 300”, among many others.
- The report of Ireland states, “insufficient access to reasonable workplace accommodation and facilities remains a barrier”.
- The report of Lithuania states, “in many municipalities, social housing is not adapted to the needs of people with disabilities”.
Recommendations provide guidance for improvement, for example:
- For Estonia, a recommendation calls on the state to “reduce early school leaving by addressing teacher shortages and supporting learners with special needs.”
- For Poland, one recommendation urges to “increase the participation of disadvantaged groups in the labour market, particularly of persons with disabilities, including by providing tailored labour market support.”
How can it support disability rights
The recommendations are non-binding. However, Member States have an obligation to report to the Commission on how they are planning to address them.
The importance of the Semester is growing. Starting soon, its impact will be much greater. The European Semester will take a very important role in the upcoming EU budget 2028-2034. The recommendations will form the basis for how countries should spend their EU funds and, therefore, will play a decisive role in where EU funding will be going to support persons with disabilities.
However, the draft regulations for the EU budget only mention the need to use the Country-Specific Recommendations as a basis for how money is spent, and not the Country Reports. This is a problem as Country Reports are far more detailed and go into depth on disability issues. The Recommendations, by contrast, only cover a small number of issues. They rarely refer directly to persons with disabilities, and usually only to ‘vulnerable groups’.
What EDF is calling for
It is crucial that the use of EU funds in the Member States is based not only on the Country-Specific Recommendations, but also on the Country Reports. Failing to do this will result in a missed opportunity to direct EU funding to where it is most needed.
For persons with disabilities, it is essential that Member States fully base their spending priorities for EU funds on the detailed Country Reports that take their needs fully into account.