EU Institutions are not only lagging on implementing the UN Disability Rights Convention, they are also failing its staff with disabilities.
These are the main messages that we are sharing with UN experts on 11 and 12 March, when a UN Committee is reviewing the EU’s implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Our report, launched on 5 March, revealed that EU Institutions are failing persons with disabilities in their role as public administration – as employers and in their interactions with EU citizens for administrative and information purposes.
The EU employment process poses insurmountable barriers from the very beginning, starting from trying to get a job in these institutions. It has long been pointed out that the European Personnel Selection Office runs inaccessible recruitment processes, and the Forum has received complaints from candidates as recently as February 2025, stating that the Office did not respond to requests for reasonable adjustments.
The issues continue after securing employment, with a lack of comprehensive policies regarding reasonable accommodation at work. The health insurance policy also doesn’t adequately protect employees with disabilities. In fact, the sickness insurance for staff, often considered a perk of working in EU Institutions, has little to no consideration for disability. Recommendations from the EU Ombudsman to fix it remain unaddressed, even though they date from 2019.
Staff and citizens with disabilities also face severe challenges in accessing the buildings and digital tools of the EU Institutions, which almost universally “fall short of international and European accessibility standards”. For example, recent changes in a conference room in the Commission’s Charlemagne building – used for events with visitors – made the room less accessible, with tactile headphones and microphone setups that are inaccessible for many blind and partially sighted users and ramps that are too narrow for most wheelchair users.
Students with disabilities in European schools – a special school system for children and dependents of EU officials, which is often considered another perk of working in Institutions – still face discrimination, inaccessibility, and failure to provide reasonable accommodation. 45 pupils with disabilities left in the 2022-2023 school year for international schools or national systems that were more accommodating.
The EU Institutions do not systematically collect and publish data on the number of staff with disabilities, but it’s clear that the above-mentioned barriers lead to underrepresentation in the EU Institutions’ workforce and to challenges for citizens with disabilities to interact with the Institutions. This, in turn, also results in slower progress in advancing the rights of 100 million persons with disabilities through the policies the EU adopts.
Yannis Vardakastanis, President of the European Disability Forum, said:
“EU Institutions need to apply their motto ‘United in diversity’ to themselves. The fact they don’t is symptomatic of a larger problem: a lack of coordination and leadership in efforts to advance our rights.”
Additional Information
- Alternative report for the second review of the European Union by the CRPD Committee
- EU not complying with treaty on disability due to lack of political leadership
Contacts
André Félix
Communications Manager – European Disability Forum
The European Disability Forum is an umbrella organisation of persons with disabilities that defends the interests of 100 million Europeans with disabilities. EDF is a unique platform that brings together representative organisations of persons with disabilities across Europe. It is run by persons with disabilities and their families. EDF is a strong, united voice of persons with disabilities in Europe.