Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-10-24-Speech-1-028-000"
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"en.20111024.13.1-028-000"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it has been mentioned many times within the walls of the European Parliament building that there are around 80 million people living with disabilities in the European Union. Political decision makers have so far failed to devote the necessary attention to and care for this extremely large social group. These are regrettable facts which have been stressed by the European Parliament on several occasions.
I would like to urge the European Commission and Member State governments to be proactive and enable the social inclusion of people with disabilities as soon as possible, so that they can become active citizens of the European Union. This would be an incredible opportunity for 80 million people.
One thing is certain: since the Lisbon Treaty, people with disabilities are no longer classed as second class citizens on paper. However, it is now time to turn this into practice, to make sure that all citizens are equal.
I think we have reached a turning point in the history of the European Union. The Spanish, Belgian and Hungarian Presidencies, together with the European Commission, have made disability a matter of priority which has several links with various policies. Let me just say that this was due for a long time.
This is why it is an honour for me, as a deaf MEP, to be the rapporteur for this report. It has also been an honour for me to receive all the help and support from the shadow rapporteurs in this enormous task.
And it has also been an honour to receive around 400 amendment proposals, as well as various opinions from three other committees. These amendments and opinions have been incorporated into what is now the full and final text of the report.
The only objective that I was guided by when preparing my report was to come up with a realistic and feasible position at the time of the economic crisis, one that feels tangible for people with disabilities, reflects the European Parliament’s strong commitment towards people with disabilities, improves the situation of disabled people, and also prompts the European Commission’s active involvement.
From the several proposals received, let me highlight two: one is a key element of the European Commission’s proposed strategy, the European Accessibility Act, for which the report has great expectations, because it proposes the development of a controllable mechanism. The other is the expected progress in the area of info-communication accessibility.
On the other hand, the report also redefines the role of the European Parliament, which we stress, so that the UN Convention on the rights of people with disabilities can receive greater emphasis in the European Parliament.
We have high expectations for the proposal that calls for the establishment of a European Disability Board. Let me also stress that a substantial part of the report is based on compromises.
We received different proposals, of which progressive proposals have been incorporated into the report. This resulted in the inclusion of various aids or other progressive parts in the report, such as the call to recognise sign languages."@en1
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