Agreement on the European Disability Card: major advance for freedom of movement

08.02.2024

Andre Felix

Disability Card

Update : an earlier version of the article had wrong information about the deadlines for the Card to become a reality. EU Member States will have 42 months to start providing the Cards, including 30 months to transpose the legislation (that is to create national laws to obey it). This means that the Card will only fully become a reality in 4 years.

The European Disability Forum celebrates the provisional agreement on the European Disability Card achieved today by EU Institutions. This provisional agreement, reached in record time, means that the final text of the Card can be voted on before the end of the legislative term. This clears a huge hurdle in making the Card a reality.

While the European Disability Card will not meet all the demands of the disability movement, we welcome its many positive points, especially:

Inclusion of transport services, even if some exceptions will apply.
Inclusion of provisions to access support when taking part in EU Mobility Programmes.
The European Disability Card will be issued and renewed free of charge.
EU-level website and national websites with information on the Card.
Safeguards to protect the Cardholders’ privacy.
That Member States can decide to extend the use of the Card to longer stays.

In addition, negotiators achieved a commitment from the European Commission to further explore remaining gaps related to the free movement of persons with disabilities, such as the portability of disability-related support when moving to another EU country.

However, we are disappointed that some of our demands were not included:

Temporary access to disability support and allowance when persons with disabilities move to work and study abroad. As it is, persons with disabilities might not have access to support while undergoing lengthy “reassessment” processes. The European Disability movement will continue its fight for full freedom of movement.
EU funding to support the actual implementation of the Cards by the Member States.
We are also disappointed that an exception was made that will allow us to exclude some specific services in case the special access or discounts provided are dependent on additional assessments.

We also slightly regret the long deadlines for transposition and implementation are. EU Member States will have 42 months to start providing the Cards, including 30 months to transpose the legislation (that is to create national laws to obey it). This means that the Card will only fully become a reality in 4 years.

Regarding the European Parking Card, we are glad that is being strengthened through:

A clear timeframe for how long public authorities can take to deliver the Card to avoid long waiting times.
Possibility to include digital features to prevent fraud, such as QR Code.
Inclusion of Braille on the physical card.

We note that this agreement paves the way to the speedy conclusion of the proposal to extend the Cards to third-country nationals who reside in EU countries.

The final text still needs to get formal approval from the Council of the EU and the European Parliament, followed by publication in the EU official journal. Then, the deadlines mentioned above will begin.

EDF will publish a more detailed analysis of the text once the final version has been approved by the European Parliament’s Plenary in April.

Yannis Vardakastanis, President of the European Disability Forum, said:

“This is a momentous victory for the disability movement, that campaigned for this Card for over a decade. We expect this Card to be well implemented and that it becomes a cornerstone for citizens with disabilities’ full inclusion in the European project.”

Additional information

The main improvements of the final agreement, as related to the initial proposal from the European Commission include:

Inclusion of provisions to access support when taking part in EU Mobility Programmes.
The European Disability Card will be issued and renewed free of charge.
EU-level website and national websites with information on the Card.
That Member States can decide to extend the use of the Card to longer stays.
Commitment to assess further the remaining gaps in free movement of persons with disabilities, such as the portability of disability-related support when moving to another EU country.

The main regression from the proposal includes adding exceptions to the scope.

Additional information

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