Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-04-03-Speech-2-278"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2001-04-03"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:People with disabilities2
dcterms:Language	"en"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20010403.11.2-278"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2001-04-03-Speech-2-2792
lpv:speaker	lp:Richard Howitt2
lpv:spoken text	"Mr President, last Saturday I took part in a rally called "Rights Now" by disabled people in Trafalgar Square in London, where disabled speakers told us how hospital consultants denied them medical treatment because their quality of life was not equal to that of able-bodied patients. The new charging policies for social care services effectively stop them from benefiting from those essential services. Whereas sexism and racism are well-known terms, disability discrimination is barely referred to in public discourse. I start my speech with this bleak assessment because in our proper desire to support the Commission in their barrier-free Europe communication, and Mrs Hermange, in her excellent response, we risk forgetting the very real exclusion from every aspect of public life which is the daily reality for disabled people in our societies. In the strong consensus we have achieved in supporting the bulk of the proposals let us remember we will encounter real conflict in delivering on the aims agreed. We welcome the European Commission's proposal to make 2003 the year of disabled citizens but its impact will be diminished if the Commission does not, during that same year, publish a general disability discrimination directive which offers comprehensive civil rights to disabled people in Europe, similar to the American Disabilities Act, on the other side of the Atlantic. We are pleased that the Socrates Programme offers additional support for disabled participants, but point out that there is a long way to go before the extra costs of disability, the provision of specialist transport, personal assistance and sign language interpreters are provided for in all mainstream European programmes to make equal participation a reality. I welcome the sign language interpretation taking place in both the Chamber and the public gallery. I only wish we could see it regularly in the European Parliament. We emphasise that the specialist and mainstream provision can go hand-in-hand and can complement each other, that the loss of the tied aspects of the research and development programme were not fully replaced with mainstreaming and that a specialist disability section should be allocated in the sixth framework programme now being discussed. We point out that fine words about free movement can never be fully realised until difficult issues for Member States, including the protection for social security benefits for disabled workers crossing our borders, can be tackled. We watch carefully when talk about interdepartmental cooperation in the Commission, on public procurement for example, shows steadfast opposition by DG internal market against awarding public contracts with full reference to companies' equal employment record. We ask the Commissioner for Employment to identify a clear timetable for binding disability access standards to the built environment to be established, and, equally, to ensure seamless access by disabled persons to all modes of public transport."@en1
lpv:spokenAs	member; PES (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 member; Members from the European Parliament to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the Agreement between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union (ACP-EU) (1999-09-14--2002-01-14)3 unknown; Labour Party (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 substitute; EMPL (1999-07-22--2002-01-14)3 member; Committee on Development and Cooperation (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"Howitt (PSE )."1

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