1. 1 How is the EU policy on Disability reflected in the Enlargement process Julien Desmedt DG Enlargement julien.desmedt@ec.europa.eu

2. 2 Candidate countries and potential candidate countries

3. 3 Accession negotiations: The Process (1)  Opinion (avis) of the Commission  Member States’ decision to grant candidate status  Member States’ decision to open accession negotiations  Opening of chapters in the negotiations:  Screening process, chapter by chapter, followed by a Commission recommendation on the opening of chapters.  If negative: benchmarks – conditions such as: strategy for alignment, fulfilment of contractual obligations  EU-27 unanimous decision (intergovernmental conference)  For each chapter to be opened:  Negotiating position by candidate country  Draft Common Position by Commission to the Member States  EU common position adopted by MS unanimously allowing opening of the chapter at the next accession conference.

4. 4 Accession negotiations: The Process (2)  Chapter provisionally closed following unanimous decision by the Member States. Chapters definitively closed only when all negotiations with the candidate country are concluded.  When negotiations on all the chapters are completed the detailed terms and conditions are incorporated into a Draft Accession Treaty, which lists all transitional arrangements and deadlines, as well as details of financial arrangements and any safeguard clauses.  Once the Accession Treaty is signed, the candidate country becomes an "Acceding State", and is entitled to interim privileges until accession makes it a member state.  For entering into force the Accession Treaty needs to submitted to the Member States and the candidate country for Ratification, according to their respective constitutional rules.  Once the ratification process is complete, the treaty enters into force on its scheduled date, and the accession state becomes a member state.

5. 5 Copenhagen accession criteria The European Council of Copenhagen in 1993 defined the criteria for EU membership as follows: “Accession will take place as soon as a country is able to assume the obligations of membership by satisfying the economic and political conditions. Membership requires: 1.That the candidate country has achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy,the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities; 2.The existence of a functioning market economy, as well as the capacity to cope withcompetitive pressure and market forces within the Union; 3.The ability to take on the obligations of membership, including adherence to the aim of political, economic and monetary union.

6. 6 Monitoring of the accession process I  Annual Progress reports by the Commission Croatia Progress report 2009  “Progress has been good in the area of socially vulnerable andpersons with disabilities. The Office of the Ombudsman for Persons with Disabilities (OPD) was inaugurated in November 2008 and was adequately staffed in April 2009. The OPD has been successful in carving out a visible role for itself. Public bodies and private enterprises are responsive to recommendations received by the OPD. A good indicator for concrete improvement is that today, almost all new buildings under construction take into account the need for accessibility of the building to disabled persons. The office in practice deals more with requests for information than with individual complaints. The media have been very cooperative in disseminating awareness-raising information. There has been good cooperation between the authorities and the ombudsman, especially on the new anti-discrimination legislation.  However, more progress is needed in the field of de-institutionalisation, including for children with disabilities. This is among the priorities set out in the Joint Inclusion Memorandum (JIM) and the related National Implementation Plan. Despite the provisions of the JIM, data on exclusion is still missing. Civil society organisations involved in delivering community-based services need to be adequately supported in order to develop sufficiently community-based services as an alternative to institutionalisation. In general, serious inadequacies in the social welfare system remain. (see also Chapter 19 – Social policy and employment)”

7. 7 Monitoring of the accession process II  Accession/European Partnerships: priorities for reforms and basis for programming of pre-accession assistance  Example Serbia Political criteria: Continue efforts to integrate and improve the conditions for children with disabilities. Reform the childcare system and ensure mainstream education for children from minorities. Economic criteria: “Continue efforts to promote employment, including by means of vocational training and labour market reforms, improve public employment services and implement the strategy on employment of people with disabilities.” Employment and social policies: Take further efforts to improve the situation of persons with disabilities.

8. 8 Monitoring of the accession process III  Negotiations on Chapter 19 – Social policy and employment, Screening report for on Croatia  State of play as presented by Croatia:  Social inclusion: “The share of persons with disabilities in the Croatian population is 9.7 % (2001). There is a higher ratio of disabled in the active population compared to the EU. A “National Strategy of Integral Policy for the Disabled Persons 2003–2006” was adopted in January 2003. Measures are being taken in view of removing physical barriers and for introducing alternative technologies. Adjustment of national museums, national theatres and cinemas should be completed by the end of 2006. There are 26 homes for disabled (2005 people). The system is over-institutionalised and bureaucratic. A de- institutionalisation process started with NGOs in 1997. In this context, alternative services such as foster care are promoted. There are also 300 associations for disabled in Croatia, and disabled are active members of the Government Commission for the Disabled Persons (24 members of which 12 are disabled).”  State of play as presented by the Commission  As regards people with disabilities, attention should be paid to the creation of communitybased services as an alternative to institutionalisation. Sufficient financial resources should be allocated in order to ensure due implementation of the National strategy for disabled. Developments in this field should be monitored carefully.

9. 9 IPA – Objectives and Amounts  All candidate and potential candidate countries are eligible to the financial instrument (IPA).  IPA has 2 objectives:  streamline all pre-accession assistance into a single framework  unite under the same instrument both candidate and potential candidate countries facilitating transfer from one status to another

10. 10 IPA – Components and eligibility  The IPA consists of 5 components: I. Transition Assistance and Institution Building (IB) II. Regional and Cross-Border Cooperation III. Regional Development IV. Human Resources Development V. Rural Development  Eligibility to IPA  Candidate countries: access to all 5 components  Potential candidates: support to SAA process. eligibility to components I and II IB projects for other components eligible under I

11. 11 Useful Internet Addresses  Financial Pre-Accession Assistance: http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/how-does-it-work/financial-assistance/index_en.htm

12. 12 TAIEX Facility (Technical Assistance Information Exchange Office) For CCs and PCCs Who? European or national social partners, officials What for? Seminars, conferences, visits… What kind of support? Technical support Rental of rooms, equipment, interpretation facilities Travel arrangements How to proceed? http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/taiex