The Czech Presidency of the Council: impact on disability rights



The Czech Presidency of the Council: impact on disability rights

The Czech Republic has held the Presidency of the EU Council since 1 July 2022. The rotating nature of the Presidency means that the country will coordinate the Presidency’s priorities until the end of December 2022. The main priority lines presented for these six months are:

  • Managing refugees’ crisis and post-war recovery of Ukraine​
  • Energy security​
  • Reinforcement of European defence capacities and cyberspace security​
  • Strategic resilience of the European economy​
  • The resilience of democratic institutions​

Disability in the priorities of the Czech Presidency

Under these priorities, we can find some lines of actions that will impact persons with disabilities: first, the integration of people fleeing Russia’s war against Ukraine, and its impact on labour markets and social protection schemes. Secondly, the prevention and elimination of energy poverty are.

There are other sub-priorities, especially linked to employment and social policy, that will impact our work:

  • The implementation of the European Child Guarantee;
  • Quality working conditions and protection of workers;

    Persons walking on an hal-empty Charles Bridge, a famous bridge in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. People are wearing face masks
    Prague, Czech Republic – April 16, 2020: Half-empty Charles Bridge during the coronavirus pandemic, with people wearing face masks; iStock/Madeleine_Steinbach

Specific actions and events

The Czech Presidency outlines two direct objectives on disability issues: to improve the “integration of persons with disabilities in the labour market and society”, and a focus on “long-term care and social services”.

The Presidency plans to launch the “Council Conclusions on the Integration of Persons with Disabilities in the Labour Market and Society” and to adopt a “Council Recommendation on Long-Term Care”. There is little information about the content, but we know their publication dates: the Conclusion on integration in the labour market will be presented in the Conference “Supporting Labour Market Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities”, to be held in Prague the 20th and 21st of September. The Recommendations on Long-term care will be published two months after the launch of the European Care Strategy (foreseen on the 7 September 2022).

The Conference “Supporting Labour Market Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities” will serve as a platform to launch the “Employment Package for persons with disabilities”. This package contains six areas of intervention. They range from reasonable accommodation to discrimination and stigma, safety at work and disability-inclusive measures for the Public Employment Services.

Lastly, there is the intention to continue working on the 2008 horizontal anti-discrimination directive proposal, still blocked by the Council, and on a new directive strengthening the role and independence of equality bodies.

For more information, contact:

Álvaro Couceiro, Policy Officer – alvaro.couceiro@edf-feph.org