Draft law planned for the end of 2023

The European disability card is intended to ensure mutual recognition of disability status by all member states. This will make it easier for people with disabilities to receive appropriate support when they travel or move to another EU country. This includes better access to benefits and services.

European Comission´s Work Programme 2023

The European disability card is one of the measures announced by the European Comission in its 2023 Work Programme (see DSV-News 11/2022) and as such its preparation has become a priority, said Helena Dalli, Commissioner for Equality, when talking about the project in January this year.

Status Quo: European disability card

The initiative is based on the European disability card pilot project, which was mainly used in the culture and sport sectors – and it has been used in eight member states so far. They include Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Malta, Romania and Slovenia.

The European Commission's current project for the card is to build on the experiences of the eight member states and on the European parking card for people with disabilities.

Union of Equality: Strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities 2021-2030

The creation of a European disability card is one of the flagship initiatives of the Strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities 2021-2030 and it supports the aim of enabling people with disabilities to equally exercise their rights in the EU. The strategy builds on the achievements of the previous European Disability Strategy 2010-2020, which paved the way for an accessible Europe.

This new and more in-depth strategy takes into account the diversity of disabilities as well as implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, which has also been signed by the European Union.

Conference on the Future of Europe: better inclusion

The wish for greater inclusion of people with disabilities also came up at the Conference on the Future of Europe, a forum for debates about coexistence in the EU that was conducted by EU citizens from May 2021 to May 2022. The European Commission's project to create a European disability card will also take this wish into consideration.

The European Commission plans to adopt the draft law during the end of 2023.