Concluding observations of the UN CRPD Committee to the European Union – A new strategy for persons with disabilities in the European Union (own-initiative opinion)

Key points

• The EESC calls on the EU institutions to mainstream the COs into EU law and policy making, by undertaking a mapping exercise across all its law, policies and programmes to ensure full harmonisation with the UN CRPD provisions.
• The EESC asks the EC to proceed with the revision and update of the Declaration of Competences and its list of instruments, to carry out a structured dialogue with the European Disability Movement and to put in place an interinstitutional coordination mechanism.
• The EESC recommends that the EC broadens the scope of the EDS and includes in it the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in order to achieve all SDGs inside the EU also for PWDs.
• The EESC believes that the EU should prevent EU funding from being used for institutionalisation structures.
• The EESC calls on the EC to ratify the optional protocol to the UN CRPD, the Marrakesh Treaty and the Istanbul Convention of the Council of Europe.
• The EESC proposes to the EC to establish focal points in all EC DGs, agencies and bodies.
• The EESC believes that the EC should prepare and develop the new 2020–2030 Global Disability Rights Agenda; to be opened by the European Year of Disability Rights 2021.
• The EESC calls for the negotiations about the horizontal equal treatment directive to be unblocked and for the COs and the UN CRPD to be taken into account.
• The EESC asks the EC to create the necessary social protection floors to respect PWD's right to an adequate standard of living and social protection.
• The EESC asks the EC and EUROSTAT to develop statistical tools to measure the impact of the implementation of the UN CRPD on PWDs, at European and national level.