European Disability Forum

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 Agenda European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities

“Building an inclusive future for persons with disabilities in the EU”

Date and place:

🗓️ Tuesday 23 May 2023- 09:00-18:30 CET (Brussels time)
📍 European Parliament Hemicycle | Brussels
💻 The event will be streamed live via the European Parliament’s multimedia centre and EDF’s communication channels.

Speakers include:

  • Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament
  • Yannis Vardakastanis, President of the European Disability Forum (EDF)
  • Vera Jourová, European Commission Vice President Values and Transparency
  • Helena Dalli, European Commissioner for Equality
  • Janez Lenarčič, European Commissioner for Crisis Management
  • Karine Lalieux, Minister of Pensions and Social Integration, Belgian Federal Government
  • Julia Farrugia Portelli, Maltese Minister for Inclusion, Voluntary Organisations and Consumer Rights
  • Emilly O’Reilly, European Ombudsman
  • MEP Dragoș Pîslaru, chair of the European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee
  • MEP Katrin Langensiepen, chair of the CRPD network
  • Valerii Sushkevych, Head of the National Assembly of Persons with Disabilities (NAPD), Ukraine
  • Tamara Byrne, self-advocate for persons with intellectual disabilities, representing Inclusion Europe and the EDF Youth Committee
  • Carlos Susias, President of the European Anti-Poverty Network
  • Paola Albrito, Director of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
  • Markus Schefer, member of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Agenda

Time Panel
9:00 – 9:30

Presentation by the European Parliament’s Visitors Programme
09:30 – 10:00

Official Opening

  • Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament
  • Yannis Vardakastanis, President of the European Disability Forum
10:00 – 11:00

Breaking barriers: Free movement and full participation

Co-chaired by MEP Salvatore De Meo, chair of the Constitutional Affairs Committee, and Humberto Insolera, EDF executive committee member

Speakers include:

  • Vera Jourová, European Commission Vice President Values and Transparency
  • Emilly O’reilly, European Ombudsman
  • Karine Lalieux, Minister of Pensions and Social Integration, Belgian Federal Government
  • Julia Farrugia Portelli, Maltese Minister for Inclusion, Voluntary Organisations and Consumer Rights
  • Martin Conway, member of the Irish Senate and vice chair of the Advisory Panel on political participation of persons with disabilities, Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe

11:00 – 11:30

 Break
11:30 – 12:25 Plenary Debate 1
Interventions by Members of the European Parliament and delegates of the European disability movement
12:25 – 12:30

Adoption of EDF Manifesto on the 2024 European elections

Speakers:

  • Yannis Vardakastanis, President of EDF
  • Alexandre Gomez, Conseil Français des personnes Handicapées pour les affaires Européennes et internationales (CFHE) and EDF Youth Committee member
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch break
For official delegates and MEPs only
14:00 – 15:00

Fighting for our rights – Combating inequality, social exclusion and poverty

Chaired by MEP Marc Angel, Vice President of the European Parliament, and Nadia Hadad, EDF Executive Committee

Speakers include:

  • Helena Dalli, European Commissioner for Equality
  • Tamara Byrne, self-advocate for persons with intellectual disabilities, representing Inclusion Europe and the EDF Youth Committee
  • Carlos Susias, President of the European Anti-Poverty Network
  • Tamás Kádár, Co-Director of Equinet
  • Markus Schefer, member of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
15:00 – 16:00 Plenary Debate 2
Interventions by Members of the European Parliament and delegates of the European disability movement
16:00 – 16:30

Break
16:30 – 17:15

Disability-inclusive resilience

Co-chaired by MEP Katrin Langensiepen, chair of the CRPD network, and Gunta Anca, EDF Vice-President

Speakers include:

  • Janez Lenarčič, European Commissioner for Crisis Management
  • Valerii Sushkevych, Head of the National Assembly of Persons with Disabilities (NAPD), Ukraine
  • Paola Albrito, Director of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
  • Idriss Maïga Alzouma, Chairperson, African Disability Forum (ADF) and Second Vice-President of the International Disability Alliance (IDA)
17:15 – 18:00 Plenary Debate 3
Interventions by Members of the European Parliament and delegates of the European disability movement
18:00 – 18:30

Concluding remarks

  • Dragoș Pîslaru, chair of the European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee
  • Pat Clarke, EDF Vice President

Practical information

  • Spoken Interpretation in 22 official EU languages and Ukrainian; Maltese and Gaelic not available
  • International Sign interpretation
  • Velotypist (speech-to-text) in English
  • Livestreaming in accessible format on the European Parliament TV
  • Meeting documents available in English, Easy To Read and Braille

Rules of Proceeding

The EPPD aims to foster a dialogue between delegates of organisations of persons with disabilities and EU policy-makers, including Members of the European Parliament. Therefore, each of the three main sessions include a ‘plenary debate’.

These debates will use rules of procedure similar to those governing European Parliament plenary sessions: lists of speakers will be agreed and allocated in advance of the event.

The organisers will ensure that the speakers’ lists will be inclusive of the most marginalised persons with disabilities – women and young people with disabilities, people with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, and people in need of high-level support.

The sessions will be co-chaired by Members of the EDF Executive Committee and Members of the European Parliament.

Agenda to download and translated into different languages