People with disabilities: equal opportunities, European action plan DAP

The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-initiative report drafted by Mario MANTOVANI (EPP-ED, I). (Please see the summary of 06/04/04.) Parliament felt that the future treaty establishing a constitution for Europe must provide for stronger measures to make it possible to combat discrimination and promote respect for human rights and opportunities for people with disabilities, and especially those with a high degree of dependency and/or who are unable to represent themselves unaided, with due regard for the model of a social Europe based on the principle of solidarity. Member States should make greater use of qualified majority voting and the codecision procedure for the adoption of legislative measures designed to combat discrimination. Parliament also stressed the importance of the pilot project to follow up the 2003 European Year of People with Disabilities adopted in the European Parliament 2004 budget in order to promote mainstreaming of disability issues in the various European policies and encourage the development of partnerships between disabled peoples' organisations and leading figures in economic, social and cultural life and the media. It asked the Commission to submit a proposal for a specific action programme with effect from the 2005 budget.�