Activities of Milan BRGLEZ related to 2022/2026(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Towards equal rights for persons with disabilities (debate)
Amendments (49)
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Citation 14 a (new)
Citation 14 a (new)
— having regard to its resolution of 7 April2022 on the EU’s protection of children and young people fleeing the war in Ukraine,
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Citation 14 b (new)
Citation 14 b (new)
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Citation 14 c (new)
Citation 14 c (new)
— having regard to its resolution of 29 November 2018 on the situation of women with disabilities,
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Citation 14 d (new)
Citation 14 d (new)
— having regard to the EP Report on the implementation of Council Directive 2000/78/EC establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation in light of the UNCRPD,
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas approximately 1 in 6 people in the EU live with some kind of disability; whereas 50.6 % of persons with disabilities are employed and 28.4 % are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, compared to 74.8 %7 and 18.4 % respectively of persons without disabilities8 ; whereas the EU activity rate of persons with disabilities is only 61.0 % compared to 82.3 % of people without disabilities; _________________ 7 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/et udes/BRIE/2020/651932/EPRS_BRI(2020) 651932_EN.pdf 8 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics- explained/index.php?title=Disability_statist ics_-_poverty_and_income_inequalities
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas women with disabilities are at higher risk of unemployment and poverty or social exclusion comparing to men with disabilities and women without disabilities, with only 20% of women with disabilities in full-time employment, comparing to 29% of men with disabilities and 48% of women without disabilities;
Amendment 73 #
Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas between 2011 and 2016 the gap in tertiary attainment between persons with and without disabilities widened – from 7% to 9%;
Amendment 77 #
Draft opinion
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
Bc. whereas the employment rate of persons with disabilities remains significantly lower than that of persons without disabilities;. whereas the latest data from the EU-SILC, shows that the disability employment gap was 24.5 % in 2020;
Amendment 82 #
Draft opinion
Recital B d (new)
Recital B d (new)
Bd. whereas the key obstacles to the employment of persons with disabilities include disability-related stereotypes, bureaucratic difficulties in accessing the available services, lack of strategic vision in governance, insufficient monitoring of policy implementation, limited training resources for employers and lack of specialist support;
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion
Recital B e (new)
Recital B e (new)
Be. whereas entrepreneurship and self-employment support in the form of guidance, training and financial aid can provide opportunities for persons with disabilities to be active in the open labour market, disincentivising their reliance on disability benefits and pensions, but such support needs to be well targeted and adequately resourced;
Amendment 92 #
Draft opinion
Recital B f (new)
Recital B f (new)
Bf. whereas the disadvantage experienced by persons with disabilities extends far beyond the realm of employment;. whereas the social and financial situation of persons with disabilities in the EU is significantly worse than that of persons without disabilities;
Amendment 96 #
Draft opinion
Recital B g (new)
Recital B g (new)
Bg. whereas during the pandemic on average, 71% of persons with disabilities were at risk of depression;
Amendment 98 #
Draft opinion
Recital B h (new)
Recital B h (new)
Bh. whereas lockdowns and restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic particularly affected young people;. whereas 57% of persons with disabilities aged 18 to 29 reported feeling lonely - 23% more than young people without disabilities;
Amendment 99 #
Draft opinion
Recital B i (new)
Recital B i (new)
Bi. whereas having a disability is synonymous with structural or educational disadvantage and discrimination; .whereas support measures focusing on aspects other than employment – for instance, poverty reduction, access to housing and childcare, accessible public transport, and personal assistance – also play a key role in providing opportunities for people with disabilities to access and remain in the workforce;
Amendment 101 #
Draft opinion
Recital B j (new)
Recital B j (new)
Bj. whereas political participation does not affect all persons with disabilities equally; whereas those with more severe impairments, as well as persons with particular types of impairment – for example, persons with intellectual disabilities –disproportionately face barriers to their participation in the political life; whereas these individuals are often some of the most isolated and excluded;
Amendment 122 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Highlights the importance of a holistic definition and application of accessibility and its value as an indispensable basis for persons with disabilities to have equal opportunities as recognised in the UNCRPD and in line with the UN CRPD General Comment No 2, taking into account the diversity of the needs of persons with disabilities and promoting universal design as a principle of the EU;
Amendment 131 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Urges therefore the Commission to put forward a proposal for a common definition of disability at EU level, as well as mutual recognition of disability status and the associated benefits and social protection rights between the Member States in line with the concluding observations of the UNCPRD Committee on the initial report of the European Union adopted in 2015 with the aim of removing the fundamental obstacle for intra-EU mobility of persons with disabilities and enabling their access to health, care and other services that facilitate independent living, as well as equal education and employment opportunities; calls for the implementation and expansion of the European Disability Card to all Member States, supporting mutual recognition of disability across the EU and paving the way to a European definition of disabilities;
Amendment 134 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Calls on the Commission and Member states to adopt a holistic life cycle policy approach to support prevention of discrimination and to ensure effective retention and inclusion of PwD in the labour market;
Amendment 137 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1d. Calls on all Member States that have not yet ratified the Optional Protocol to the CRPD to do so without further delay, and for the EU to fully ratify it; calls on the Council to take the necessary steps to ensure the accession of the EU to the Optional Protocol;
Amendment 138 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 e (new)
Paragraph 1 e (new)
1e. Calls on the Member States to take active measures to safeguard non- discrimination for all , and to ensure that PwD can exercise their labour and trade union rights on equal terms with others; urges the EU to ratify the Istanbul Convention that is supposed to have a transversal impact on all EU legislation with a specific focus on women with disabilities who face multiple and intersectional discrimination and are more vulnerable to harassment at the workplace;
Amendment 145 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Believes that income- and disability- related assistance are complementary in promoting the effective participation of persons with disabilities in the labour market; calls, therefore, on Member States to unbundle income- and disability-related assistance10 ; _________________ 10 UN Special Rapporteur, as salaries are not a substitution for the coverage onf the rights of persons with disabilities, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities’, presented to the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, August 2015.costs related to disabilities; calls therefore on Member States to unbundle income and disability- related assistance;
Amendment 149 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on the Member States to assess the effectiveness of existing sheltered workshops in providing PwD with skills to gain employment in the open labour market, to ensure that they are bound by legal frameworks covering social security, minimum wages and non- discrimination and to phase them out; calls on the Commission to monitor this process; further insists that workers with disabilities in sheltered workshops should at least be ensured the legal statute equivalent to labour rights of people working in open working environments based on the application of the respective collective agreement for the economic sector;
Amendment 158 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Recalls sheltered workshops should be a step, a temporary period for workers with disabilities in their working life cycle; in that respect, calls the Member States to develop inclusive models of sheltered and supported employment, respecting the rights of persons with disabilities, that serve as measures for effective inclusion and later transition to the open labour market;
Amendment 162 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Is concerned that in some Member States, persons with disabilities working in sheltered workshops are not formally recognised as workers under the law, are paid less than the minimum wage and are not entitled to the same social protection as regular workers; urges the Commission to ensure that Member States respect the principle of equal treatment and equal pay for work of equal value for all workers;
Amendment 172 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that teleworking could help increase the employment of persons with disabilities as a form of disability accommodation and a tool to achieve greater work-life balance and reduce pain- and fatigue-related barriers to the labour market; cautiowarns, however, against the use of teleworking by employers to avoid making reasonable accommodations or creating inclusive workplace cultures for workers with disabilities11 ; _________________ 11 Schur, L.A., Ameri, M. & Kruse, D. ‘Telework After COVID: A ‘Silver Lining’ for Workers with Disabilities?’, J Occup Rehabil 30, pp. 521–536, 6 November 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-020- 09936-5
Amendment 176 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls that future telework policies should be developed from a disability rights perspective and involve people with disabilities in their design and when new collective agreements are negotiated on telework, or when companies revise their telework policies to ensure they are disability-friendly;
Amendment 178 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Calls on the Member States to monitoring the respect of Principles No 2 and 3 of the European Pillar of Social Rights, providing for equality of treatment and opportunities regarding participation in the labour market, terms and conditions of employment and career progression between men and women, regardless of racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation recalls on monitoring the adoption of the measures established by the UNCRPD;
Amendment 188 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Encourages public employment services to roll out personalised measures to improve the employability and retention of persons with disabilities in the labour market; calls on Member States to provide guidance, training and financial aid to support job creation, recruitment, entrepreneurship and self- employment for persons with disabilities.;
Amendment 194 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Stresses that while supporting and promoting the labour market participation of people with disabilities is crucial, adequate and inclusive social protection mechanisms also need to be put in place to ensure support is available for all people with disabilities, irrespective of their employment status;
Amendment 201 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Believes that labour market support measures must take into account disability and tailor-made policy responses to support the inclusion of persons with disabilities in employment; highlights that people with disabilities, their family , and their representative organisations governments, trade unions and NGOs representing the voices of people with disabilities – play an important role in the provision of support; notes that the active involvement of persons with disabilities, including through their representative organisations, in policy development and law making has not yet been formalised as a requirement or put in practice in all EU Member States. Calls on the Members States to use intersectional disaggregated data in order to monitor the inclusion of pwd in the labour market;
Amendment 211 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4c. Notes that persons with disabilities are as among the most marginalized and at-risk population in any crisis-affected community; stresses further that as a consequences of war people with disabilities in situations of armed conflict face violent attacks, forced displacement, and ongoing neglect in the humanitarian response to civilians caught up in the fighting, are abandoned in their homes or in deserted villages for days or weeks, with little access to food or water;
Amendment 220 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 d (new)
Paragraph 4 d (new)
4d. Calls on Member States to ensure the participation of persons with disabilities in the electoral process in 2024 and in the law making process; Calls on Member States to eliminate barriers that can exclude persons with disabilities from the opportunity to influence the development and implementation of the laws and policies which shape their daily lives;
Amendment 229 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 e (new)
Paragraph 4 e (new)
4e. Encourages National public authorities to ensure that the requirement to register to vote or for reasonable accommodation does not result in persons with disabilities being excluded from elections;. calls on Member States to include measures ensuring that the registration process is accessible by redesigning relevant websites in line with EU standards;
Amendment 232 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 f (new)
Paragraph 4 f (new)
4f. Notes that complaints mechanisms, both judicial and non- judicial, should be made more accessible for persons with disabilities; . calls on Member States to lift restrictions on the right of persons deprived of legal capacity to bring complaints independently of their guardian and take effective measures to make sure that information about how and where to complain is accessible to all persons with disabilities through the production of information materials in different and accessible formats distributed through support and advocacy organisations for persons with disabilities, including disabled persons organisations (DPOs);
Amendment 237 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 g (new)
Paragraph 4 g (new)
Amendment 243 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 h (new)
Paragraph 4 h (new)
4h. Calls on the Commission to revise the Cross-border health care Directive to bring it in line with the UN CRPD in order to guarantee access to affordable and quality cross-border healthcare for persons with disabilities;
Amendment 244 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 i (new)
Paragraph 4 i (new)
4i. Is of the opinion that the European Funds must adhere to the UNCRPD and Structural Funds should continue to foster transition from institutional to community and family- based care, finance support services to realise the right to live independently , and that the ex ante conditionalities must be concrete and quality-assessed; calls on the EU to ensure all funding programmes are accessible and include a dedicated budget for accessibility; furthermore, the Commission shall make sure that all funds are actively invested in research to develop better and more affordable assistive technology for persons with disabilities and towards increasing the participation of persons with disabilities in all EU funded programmes;
Amendment 246 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 j (new)
Paragraph 4 j (new)
4j. Highlights that harassment at work, including sexual harassment and retaliation for speaking up, hinders access to work and employment, job retention and equal career paths, in particular for women with disabilities, and that specific actions are needed in Member States to prevent, combat and sanction harassment against persons with disabilities;
Amendment 249 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 k (new)
Paragraph 4 k (new)
4k. Stresses that the low activity rate of persons with disabilities is, as well, a huge obstacle hindering socioeconomic inclusion which must be improved by European and national programmes aiming at the activation and training of persons left outside the labour market;
Amendment 250 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 l (new)
Paragraph 4 l (new)
4l. Reminds that reasonable accommodation is a right for workers with disabilities which is not always covered or understood by employers, who, sometimes, either have stigma about capabilities and necessities of persons with disabilities, or do not have enough support in terms of information and resources regarding its application in the workplace; calls on the Commission to revise Directive 2000/78/EC and propose, among others, the EU harmonised minimum standards for reasonable accommodation for workers with disabilities;
Amendment 251 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 m (new)
Paragraph 4 m (new)
4m. Underlines the need to offer specialised protection and care to persons with disabilities coming from Ukraine; recalls the importance of the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child, the Child Guarantee, the EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030, as well as all existing EU legal instruments, including the Temporary Protection Directive in supporting the Member States to help them address the specific needs of persons with disabilities fleeing the war in Ukraine;
Amendment 252 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 n (new)
Paragraph 4 n (new)
4n. Repeats Its call on the Member States to implement the reinforced Youth Guarantee to ensure offers of high quality, including providing fair remuneration and access to social protection, prohibiting the abuse of atypical contracts, and ensuring working environments that are adapted to the needs of persons with disabilities;
Amendment 253 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 o (new)
Paragraph 4 o (new)
4o. Calls on the Commission to evaluate the challenges and rights violations experienced by persons with disabilities during the COVID- 19pandemic, and to adopt targeted measures for paths of psychological support and reintegration into the labour market;
Amendment 254 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 p (new)
Paragraph 4 p (new)
4p. Recalls the Commission to develop those measures in coordination and communication with persons with disability and all the organisations involved, starting from the European Parliament’s CRPD network;
Amendment 255 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 q (new)
Paragraph 4 q (new)
4q. Calls on the Member States to create an independent entity responsible for monitoring all accessibility-related legislation, including the European Accessibility Act, the Audio visual Media Services Directive, the Telecoms Package and the Web Accessibility Directive;
Amendment 256 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 r (new)
Paragraph 4 r (new)
4r. Calls on the Members State to implement the Directive on work-life balance for parents and carers that introduces a carers’ leave of five working days per year; insists that special arrangements in terms of carers’ leave, paternity leave, parental leave and flexible working hours should be considered for parents in particularly disadvantaged situations, such as those with disabilities or parents of children with disabilities or long-term illnesses ,without any repercussions from the employer;
Amendment 257 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 s (new)
Paragraph 4 s (new)
4s. Calls on the Members States to ensure better working and living conditions, including through adequate minimum wages and pay transparency measures, to reduce the disability pay gap and achieving inclusive and sustainable growth of the labour market; stresses the importance of a swift adoption of the directive on minimum wages and the Pay Transparency fully applying to persons with disabilities;
Amendment 258 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 t (new)
Paragraph 4 t (new)
4t. Highlights the importance to consider and treat with equal attention also the persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, adopting measures for their future after the carers’ death;
Amendment 259 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 u (new)
Paragraph 4 u (new)
4u. Calls on the Commission to develop and promote a European legal framework for inclusive enterprises, with the aim to create permanent employment of people with disabilities;