Sweden has taken over the Presidency of the Council of the EU for the first half of 2023. It is the last semester of the presidential trio that started with France in January 2022 – the presidential grouping system that allows to set long-term goals.
After forming a new government, Sweden announced its priorities for the Presidency of the Council. Sweden will focus on four main lines:
- Security – unity
- Competitiveness
- Green and energy transition
- Democratic values and the rule of law – our foundation
Disability in the programme
Along with priorities, Sweden also published their detailed Presidency programme. Disability is considered within the Employment and Social Policy section:
“The Presidency intends to use the EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as a springboard for highlighting disability policy issues to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of human rights for people with disabilities”.
The programme gives few guidelines on how this can be ensured. Nevertheless, the Swedish presidency also promises to work on:
- a “strategy for health and social care”,
- highlight issues concerning independent living “for older people and an ageing population”.
- “the forthcoming report of the High-Level Group on the future of social protection and of the welfare state in the EU”.
Other priorities
The Swedish Presidency plans, as well, to work on other relevant initiatives that affect direct or indirectly persons with disabilities, especially:
- Combating violence against women, with work on the proposed Directive to combat violence against women and domestic violence and the EU’s accession to the Istanbul Convention
- The conclusion of the negotiations on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, where inclusion of accessibility is a matter of concern;
- Ensuring equality and non-discrimination, with work on the proposed directives on binding standards for equality bodies and the still blocked 2008 Equal Treatment Directive proposal
- Artificial Intelligence Act;
- Energy crisis and inflation;
- Sustainability and green policies;
Regarding accessibility, the presidency considers that “infrastructure and transport need to be competitive and efficient and make the entire EU accessible”.
What is missing
Considering the many priorities that affect disability being currently negotiated by the institutions (or to be proposed), it is not encouraging that there are no other initiatives, specifically:
- The launch of the AccessibleEU;
- Actions on the launch of two measures of Disability Employment Package.
However, more significant than the actions proposed are the results achieved. For that, we will have to wait for the presidency to be in place before we can really understand whether it is truly inclusive or not.