European Disability Card and European Parking Card, Directive (EU) 2024/2841

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1) Fundamental human rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The European Union 'is based on the values of human dignity, freedom, equality and respect for rightshuman rights and is committed to combating discrimination, including that based on disability, as established in the Treaty on European Union (TEU), in Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the "Charter") and in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)'. (2)

The Charter of fundamental rights EU 'recognises and respects the right of persons with disabilities to benefit from measures designed toto achieve autonomy, social and professional integration and participation in the life of the community. Every citizen of the Union has the right fundamental to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, subject to the limitations and conditions laid down in the TEU and the TFEU and the provisions adopted in application of the same'(Article 18).

The UN Convention CRPD in turn, 'It also recognizes the right of people with disabilities, among others the other, the right to free movement and freedom to choose one's residence, on a of equality with others' (Article 26). (3)

2) Disability, (theoretical) rights and EU policies

The European Pillar of Social Rights (the «pillar») – proclaimed in Gothenburg (SW) on 17 November 2017 by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission – establishes that:

- 'every person, regardless of disability, has the right to equal treatment treatment and opportunities in employment, social protection, education and access to goods and services available to the public and it is necessary to promote equal opportunities for underrepresented groups' (principle no. 3).

– 'persons with disabilities are recognised as having the right to income support that ensures a dignified life, to services that enable them to participate in society and to a working environment adapted to their needs' (principle n. 17).

The EU strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities 2021-2030 – adopted by the Commission communication of 3 March 2021, as seen (4) – is (theoretically) 'aimed at addressing the various challenges faced by persons with disabilities and achieving progress in all areas of the UNCRPD, both at Union and national level'.

3) Accessibility

Directive (EU) 2019/882 aspires, in biblical times, 'to improve access to certain products and services by eliminating and preventing obstacles resulting from heterogeneous accessibility requirements in the Member States, thus contributing to increasing the availability of accessible products and services in the internal market, including access to websites and mobile services of certain public services, and to improving the accessibility of related information'.

Accessibility of websites and mobile applications of public bodies should instead have been improved – with equally poor results, if one considers the 'digital divide' that primarily affects the elderly – thanks (so to speak) to the (theoretical) application of Directive (EU) 2016/2102. A cloying rhetoric, for the 52% of people with disabilities who declare themselves discriminated against and their caregivers still deprived of rights (4,5).

4) Disability and transport

Four EU regulations guarantee the right of passengers with disabilities and/or reduced mobility to receive free assistance on public transport, when they travel by plane, train, ship, waterway, bus (6,7,8,9). Passengers with disabilities and/or reduced mobility should therefore not suffer the discrimination and neglect that unfortunately they continue to experience in the majority of disrespectful EU Member States (10,11,12).

Directive (EU) 1999/62/EC It also allows Member States to establish reduced tolls or user charges for roads, bridges or tunnels subject to charging.
road, as well as exemptions from the obligation to pay such tolls or user charges for any vehicle used or owned by a person with a disability.

5) Free movement of persons and recognition of the rights of disabled persons

'UNCRPD recognizes that discrimination and social exclusion experienced by persons with disabilities arise from environmental, systemic and behavioral barriers in society, rather than by the impairment itself. Due to the lack of mutual recognition of disability status between Member States, persons with disabilities often encounter specific and significant difficulties and barriers in the exercise of their fundamental rights to equal treatment, non-discrimination and free movement.'.

'Persons with disabilities who are travelling to or visiting another Member State are at a significant disadvantage in the exercise of their free movement rights compared to persons without disabilities, as well as to persons with disabilities in possession of a disability certificate, a disability card or another formal document that
recognise their disability status or their right to specific services on the basis of a disability in the Member State to which they are travelling or visiting'. (13)

6) European Disability Card

Directive (EU) 2024/2841 requires Member States to take the necessary measures to ensure that holders of a European Disability Card – when travelling or visiting a Member State other than their State of residence – have access to the same special conditions or preferential treatment as residents of that Member State. Equal rights must be recognised for caregivers and assistance animals, 'unless otherwise provided
specified in Union law' (Article 5).

The European Disability Card is issued free of charge by the competent authority in the State of residence of the entitled persons, in physical and digital versions. After the European Commission has defined the methods to guarantee the incorruptibility of documents by 5 December 2025, thus delaying by at least one year the practical implementation of the rights established in the directive.

7) European Parking Card

Member States take the necessary measures to ensure that holders of a European parking card for persons with disabilities, 'when I am travelling or visiting
a Member State other than the one of residence', can access the parking conditions and facilities reserved for resident disabled people, under the same conditions (Article 6).

8) Yet another hoax

The European Parliament voted by its citizens, together with the Council in which the governments of the Member States participate and the Eurocrats of the Commission have granted the Member States a deadline of over three and a half years - until 5 June 2028 - to comply with the directive in question. A shame that adds to the infinite previous ones, yet another mockery of the European legislator to people with disabilities.

Dario Dongo

Footnotes

(1) Directive (EU) 2024/2841 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2024 establishing the European Disability Card and the European Parking Card for persons with disabilities https://tinyurl.com/3fx6zf2p
(2) Dario Dongo. Disability. Egalité. 1.8.19
(3) Directive (EU) 2024/2841, recitals 1-3
(4) Dario Dongo, Sabrina Bergamini. Disability, new European strategy 2021-2030. Egalité. 12.3.21
(5) Dario Dongo, Sabrina Bergamini. Italy, mothers and caregivers without protection. Egalité. 22.11.19
(6) See Regulation (EC) 1107/2006 (air transport) and Regulations 1177/2010 (means of transport by waterway), 181/2011 (bus), 2021/782 (train)
(7) Dario Dongo. Disability and reduced mobility, ABC of airplane rights. Egalité. 11.7.22
(8) Dario Dongo, Andrea Adelmo Della Penna. Buses and Disabilities, What Rights? Egalité. 30.10.24
(9) Dario Dongo. Trains and disabilities in Italy, stop apartheid! Egalité. 17.8.20
(10) Dario Dongo. Rome, Genoa, Italy. Public transport, disability and discrimination. Egalité. 6.12.21
(11) Davide Mangili, Dario Dongo. Val di Susa, public transport inaccessible. Reportage. Egalité. 5.3.23
(12) Dario Dongo. Paralympics and accessibility in Paris. Egalité. 31.8.24
(13) Directive (EU) 2024/2841, recitals 12 and 15