91998E1391

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1391/98

by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Council

(6 May 1998)

Subject: High-Level Disability Group

What progress can the Council report following the first meetings of the High-Level Group on Disability set up after the adoption of the Council Resolution on Equality of Opportunity for People with Disabilities?

Given the UK Presidency's priority for employment, can the Council give its preliminary assessment of how far Member States have ensured integration of disabled people in their employment plans drawn up after the Luxembourg Summit?

Given the existence of discrimination against disabled people in other spheres of life outside employment, will the Council welcome a proposal from the Commission for a new disability programme on the basis of the non-discrimination clause in the unratified Amsterdam Treaty?

Reply

(6 October 1998)

The High-Level Disability Group comprises experts from the Commission, which is therefore best placed to provide information on the Group's progress.

At the Cardiff European Council meeting on 15 and 16 June 1998, during which the Commission's and the Council's initial assessments of the employment action plans were presented, the Heads of State and of Government added to the list of guidelines laid down for future discussions on employment the need to tackle discrimination against disabled people in the labour market.

The Council will also examine any proposal from the Commission on measures to tackle discrimination against disabled people.

Furthermore, following the Council's adoption on 20 December 1996 of a Resolution on the social and occupational integration of people with disabilities(1), the Council General Secretariat is endeavouring - in terms of its own policies and practices - to play its part in implementing the principles contained in this Resolution. Accordingly, it now applies an interinstitutional code of good conduct to the recruitment of disabled persons.

(1) OJ C 12, 13.1.1997.