Lucie DAVOINE

Policy topics Lucie DAVOINE is active on

What Lucie DAVOINE has said (3)

• “Yes, I confirm to the Commission, so to you. For your question and your comment, so indeed I think the strategy in itself is very broad and tries to cover all the articles of the convention and there are a series of articles in the convention that concern access to justice. So in the strategy we'll cover all these aspects, so access to employment, access to education, to culture and also access to justice. I think a first step in this area is to be able to monitor what is happening in the national justice system and I'm glad that the colleagues in our Directorate General for Justice are publishing each year the Justice Scoreboard where there are actually questions on access of persons with disabilities to the justice system. So a first step, as you said, is indeed ensuring that we know exactly what is the situation and how to close the gaps. In the field of justice, we have also been trying to work with the member states to improve knowledge and awareness about the needs and the barriers faced by persons with disabilities. Awareness raising is a key component of the strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities. We have also, and I think it's an important step up effort in terms of accessibility. So we have the European Accessibility Act, we have the Web Accessibility Directive which covers public sectors, so the web in the public sectors, and with our resource center accessible.eu we try to reach all professionals so that they are trained in terms of accessibility, to know the rules, to know the standards also they do exist at European level in terms of digital accessibility, in terms of the built environment as well. So we try to have a comprehensive approach depending, of course, on the areas for which we have competencies in this at European level but we try to use all the tools available whether it's funding for the justice program, whether it's legislation standards in terms of accessibility or through awareness raising and somehow mutual learning with the member states.”
  EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility · EU policy on criminal justice · EU policy on accessibility of digital infrastructure
• “Thank you, thank you very much. Let me reply to the different remarks and questions you had. So in the strategy we have a full chapter about leading by example because I think the EU institution should lead by example and in the Commission we really aspire to lead by example. That's why we have one of our flagship initiatives was actually to ensure that in terms of human resources within the Commission we ensure diversity and inclusion and we always try to strive for the best practice in this area. At national level, I wouldn't say there is one member state leading the way. Each member state has a good and a bad practice depending on the area. What is important and the progress that has been made in recent years is that Eurostat is now including in all its surveys a variable on disability which means that when we speak about education, employment, poverty, when we speak about access to digital services, we have information disaggregated by disability in all the surveys. And there is a section in Eurostat website which is about disability where you can clearly see which member state is leading in terms of employment, in terms of education. And it's true that some member states are somehow a better place in terms of ranking but all still have progress to be made so none of the gaps has been closed in any of the member states but there are good practices and in some areas employment with the disability employment package we have gathered good practice at national level as well. So in terms of accessibility as well, the resource centers accessible.eu has gathered a lot of good practices that are available on their website and we use also the tools of the European Semester to flag any issue in the report, the country specific report that we are publishing every year as the European Commission. Concerning civil society organizations, the feedback we have from the civil society organizations at national level is indeed that they are also affected by the various cuts that could have happened. At European level, we have maintained constant funding throughout the years and we have signed new partnership agreements with a series of civil society organizations defending the rights of persons with disabilities. So the European Disability Forum is the most well-known organization but we are also funding organizations defending the rights of persons with specific types of disabilities whether it's Inclusion Europe for mental impairment, Autism Europe, the European Blind Union, the European Deaf Union. So we are trying to ensure that persons with disabilities are well represented and have a voice at European level when it comes to policymaking. And we try also to lead by example in this area. We have the European Disability Platform that we consult regularly not only when we design policy but also in the implementation phase, in the evaluation phase so that persons with disabilities are not only consulted but are really partners in our effort to uphold the rights of persons with disabilities. Thank you.”
  European Semester (social dimension) · EU engagement with civil society · EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility
• “Thank you chair for the floor honorable members dear participants I'm really glad to be with you today to reflect on the progress achieved in the field of disability rights and on what we can do even better for the next five years. As it was said the commission is committed to update the strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities which was adopted in twenty twenty one which runs until two thousand and thirty and we tend to think that the objectives set in the strategy are relevant so the key issue is which actions which path we are taking to achieve the objectives set in twenty twenty one in the strategy. The strategy is our compass it's also our tool to implement the UN Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disability which is a very progressive agenda to ensure that persons with disabilities have equal rights with persons without disabilities and this is also the first human rights treaty that VAU as a whole ratifies so both the EU and the member states are party to the treaty which places obligation on all EU institution to act to uphold the rights of persons with disabilities as policymaker as a legislator but also as employer and as a public administration. I would say so I will not explain all what we have done in the first phase but just would like to highlight that while we're reflecting on the progress and thinking ahead we still have to implement the groundbreaking initiatives that were agreed during the previous mandate. I'm thinking in particular to the European Disability Card and the European Parking Card for persons with disabilities. We are currently working on the delegated act the implementing act to set the technical specification and the cards should be operational in twenty twenty seven. We've heard the calls of this house also of civil society to close the remaining gaps in terms of free movement and I would like to highlight that in the directive itself the commission has been asked to run a carry out a study by twenty twenty eight on the remaining gaps in the free movement areas for persons with disabilities. I'd like also to highlight that beyond the European Disability Cards a series of other initiatives are really important legal act as well so the regulation the so called regulation eight eighty three on social security coordination which covers for instance what is so called invalidity benefits and which offers some flexibility to ensure that persons with disabilities can move freely and keep their benefits and their rights. I would like also to mention the notice guidance on independent living in the use of funds which set some clear priorities for the member states to have the institutionalization strategy with clear time bound targets clear budget clear governance and the repetition of responsibilities between the different layers of public administration. So I'm mentioning that because I think it's an area where we have seen we have heard from Eurofound study for instance that progress has been limited. There are also other areas in terms of employment gaps for instance where progress is very limited so despite all the efforts we have to acknowledge that there are gaps and that we need to do better. The message I would like to pass on today is that as we are in a transition between two phase of the strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities between two budgets that we are currently negotiating this is a real opportunity to reflect what has worked what has not worked so well and how we can do better for the rights of persons with disabilities. Thank you and I'm looking forward to the discussion today.”
  EU competences on human rights · EU competences on social policies · EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility