Campaigns

European campaigns

Summary: Information about RNIB's work with the European Union.

RNIB's work with the European Union

The decisions taken at European Union (EU) level have a significant impact on the daily lives of blind and partially sighted people here in the UK.

The European Campaigns Unit works to make sure that the interests of blind and partially sighted people in the UK are taken into account in all EU decisions which affect them.

To achieve this, we actively seek to influence policies being formulated in Brussels. We have good links with Members of the European Parliament, European Commission officials, European Expert groups such as the European Disability Forum and the European Blind Union. We also work in partnership with other organisations to maximise the effectiveness of our campaigns.

Our EU campaign work over the next three years will be around our six campaign priority areas: eliminating avoidable sight loss; improving access to health and social care; improving access to information and information systems; increasing employment amongst blind and partially sighted people; increasing income for blind and partially sighted people; improving access to television, audio visual culture and life long learning. We will also continue to campaign on other issues of relevance as these arise.

The EU and you – European Parliament

The European Parliament is the only European institution directly elected by the 492.8 million EU citizens. 785 MEPs from the 27 Member States are elected for a five-year term by proportional representation (PR). The current EP term is from 2004 to 2009

The UK is divided into twelve regions, each with between three and ten MEPs. All the MEPs in your constituency represent you. If you live in Wales, for example, you have four MEPs. You can find out who your MEPs are from the London office of the European Parliament.

The Parliament is involved in drafting European Union laws - such as directives and regulations. With each revision of the Treaties, the Parliament has had an increase in its powers in relation to the other EU institutions. It is now a co-legislator – with the Council – which means that it can adopt European laws and accept, amend or reject the content of EU legislation. It also has budgetary powers and has democratic controls over the other EU institutions. In fact the EP has more power than ever before: it examines the Commission’s annual work programme and can now ask the Commission to present legislative proposals for laws to the Council.

The EP has a Disability Intergroup, which meets in Strasbourg every other month to discuss issues of concern to disabled people, disability groups and the EU institutions. The UK is well represented on the Intergroup with the current President, Richard Howitt MEP, and Vice-President Liz Lynne MEP both representing UK constituencies.

The European Commission

The European Commission is the politically independent institution that is responsible for defending the general interests of the European Union. It has an almost exclusive right of initiative where EU legislation is concerned and it is the Commission that prepares then implements the legislation adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in the areas where the EU has jurisdiction. The Commission is the guardian of the EU Treaties and has responsibility for ensuring that EU law is implemented in the 27 Member States: it can take infringement action against Member States that do not apply EU law.

The Commission therefore has powers of implementation, management and control. It is the Commission that plans and implements common policies as well as executing the budget and looking after the different EU Community programmes.

The 27 Commissioners – one from each Member States - are elected by the Council, and thus the Member States, for a five-year term. Their work is supported by Directorate Generals (DG), staffed by European civil servants. The current Commission President is José Manuel Barroso from Portugal. The UK Commissioner is Peter Mandelson who has responsibility for the Trade Directorate General.

The Council of the European Union – The Council of Ministers or the Council

The Council is the EU’s main decision-making body and it defines the general political guidelines of the European Union. It brings together the government of the 27 European Union Member States and the president of the Commission. The Council headquarters are in Brussels and it meets, in different configurations, several times a month.

The Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe, which was signed in Rome on 29 October 2004, but has never come into force, proposed to replace individual six-month presidencies by joint eighteen-month presidencies by three member states, the so-called Troikas. Although the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe is not legally binding, member states have decided to adopt the concept of the presiding Trio. The current Trio (January - July 2008) is composed of Portugal, Slovenia and France.

The Council takes decisions on proposals from the European Commission and therefore, in conjunction with the Parliament, it acts in a legislative and budgetary capacity. This is generally through a procedure called codecision but can also be through what is called the consultation procedure. It is important to remember that in most cases (for agriculture, employment, health, transport, single market issues etc.), the Council agrees its position through a qualified majority (QMV) system, i.e. a majority of the Member States must agree. Depending on the subject in hand, the Commission can also take decisions by simple majority or unanimously.

The Council also leads on the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and it co-ordinates some economic policies.

For further details about how the Council works

NB - Other bodies such as the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe are pan-European organisations and as such are not part of the official EU-27 Institutions.

Get involved!

Would you like to campaign on European issues? If you are interested in how the EU affects you and your day to day life, contact Anne Spinali, European Campaigns Officer by email anne.spinali@rnib.org.uk or phone 020 7391 2087.

Some of the subjects we are campaigning on at the moment are listed below under the six main RNIB campaign priorities.

Improving access to information and information systems

With the advent of new Information Communication Technology (ICT), the potential to access information and to communicate across the world is unparalleled. However the very changes and developments that should enable inclusion could well end up excluding people with a sight problem. Badly designed websites may be inaccessible to people using screen readers, users will not be able to increase the font size or alter the contrast or technologies will not converge to enable blind and partially sighted users to pick and choose the combinations of ICT equipment they want to use.

RNIB wants to ensure that blind and partially sighted people can seize the opportunities of the Information Society. One of our main campaign areas at EU level is therefore about access to information.

We have established a close working relationship with DG (Directorate General) Information Society at the European Commission. Commissioner Viviane Reding heads this DG. During a major Presidency event in Riga in 2006, Commissioner Reding presided over the Riga eInclusion Ministerial Declaration. This has given focus to the EU’s work on eInclusion over the last two years, in particular the Communication on eInclusion published at the end of 2007. The Commission is now working on an eInclusion strategy for 2008 and exploring the opportunity for proposing legislation on eAccessibility. About the EU and e-Inclusion

General access to information

We are working to encourage the European Institutions to improve the accessibility of their information and to make it available in alternative formats upon request. Working together with UK MEPs, we have, since 2001, secured a commitment within the EU budget to provide information in alternative formats when requested. In addition, we have together with our European Blind Union partners produced the "European Blind Union access to information guidelines." This booklet explains in easy to understand language how information should be presented so that it is accessible to blind and partially sighted people.

We are using European consultations and European Parliament initiatives to put the issues of accessibility of the information society for blind and partially sighted people to the European Institutions.

We have also been pushing for accessibility of public and private websites in responses to European level consultations and European Parliament initiatives. RNIB is a member of the influential EuroAccessibility Consortium.

Copyright campaign

We are working to ensure that technical blocks under copyright regulations do not impede blind and partially sighted people's access to information in electronic formats.

This includes working with the European Commission to ensure the Information Society Directive 2001/29/EC (also called the European Copyright Directive) is reviewed to clarify exceptions for blind and partially sighted people.

We work with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and other intellectual property organisations to secure this.

Postal Services

The European Union has just finished revising the Postal Services Directive. This directive provides for the opening up of postal services in the EU to full competition. We feared that at least in some European countries the pressure from competition would erode or threaten the free postal service so valued by many blind and partially sighted people. The directive allows but does not guarantee free postal services for blind and partially sighted people.

In January 2008, the RNIB Campaigns team led European Blind Union efforts to try to get the European Parliament to reinstate the two amendments to this directive that it adopted at First Reading, which would have guaranteed the future of the free postal service for blind and partially sighted people in the EU.

At Second Reading the rules require a larger number of MEPs to support any amendments in order for them to go through. In fact 393 of the total number of 755 must vote in favour of an amendment for it to be adopted at this stage.

In the end the vote on the amendment to strengthen the wording in Article 1 was lost by 298 for to 335 against. This amendment read as follows:

"Member States shall ensure the provision of a free postal service for the use of blind and partially sighted persons."

However, in something of a moral victory, we actually won the vote on the other amendment, a recital, by one vote: 321 for to 320 against.

The proposed wording for the recital was:

"Given the importance of postal services for blind and partially sighted persons, it is appropriate to confirm that in a competitive and liberalised market there should be an obligation to supply free services for blind and partially sighted persons introduced by the Member States.

Sadly, given the need for 393 votes to pass the amendment, this was still not sufficient to get it into the directive.

This is the end of the road in terms of getting the changes we need to this directive.

The final directive will continue to permit but not guarantee the provision of the free postal service.

However, an Act of Parliament safeguards the UK's free postal service. Furthermore, towards the end of 2007 the Campaigns team sought and obtained written assurance from government ministers that the service will continue to be protected now that the European postal market will be fully opened to competition.

Accessible pharmaceutical labelling campaign

Of course, access to information does not only mean access to accessible ICT. It also refers access to information through more traditional means and RNIB does not forget this.

During 2003, we were successful in our campaign to use the Directive on Pharmaceutical Products to make medicines accessible to blind and partially sighted people. As a result, the new pharmaceutical labelling laws that came into force on 30 October 2005 require that all drugs which are licensed from then on must have the product name printed in braille on the packaging. The Patient Information Leaflet (PIL) must also be made available in accessible formats.

RNIB continues to work with the pharmaceutical industry and with the MHRA (the government body responsible for the implementation of the directive in the UK) to ensure that the directive is delivered. Blind and partially sighted people should now be able to take medicine in confidence, without worrying whether they are taking the correct dosage or tablets.

Standards

Standards affect people every day no matter where they are. European standardisation (not necessarily EU) is increasingly important, and now addresses areas such as eCommerce, the built environment and services as well as more traditional areas such as product safety, accessibility and harmonisation. RNIB works closely with several standards bodies and organisations to ensure that the interests of blind and partially sighted consumers are represented.

Improving access to television, audio-visual culture and life long learning

Access to television and audio-visual culture is a fundamental right that RNIB is seeking to maintain for blind and partially sighted people. There are several platforms in the EU where we are able to undertake this work.

Television Without Frontiers (TVWF) and access to digital TV

RNIB promotes the accessibility of TV through European consultations and legislative initiatives, with the support of UK members of the European Parliament.

The "Television without Frontiers Directive"; now the "Audiovisual Media Services Directive" (AVMS) is the main piece of EU legislation which covers television. In 2007 RNIB lobbied successfully with our European partners for the revised Directive to contain an article on access to TV for disabled people. In particular we asked for a requirement that all EU states report on their activities to increase the levels of audio description, subtitling and other services, which help disabled people to fully enjoy television. Currently the level of these services in Europe is woefully inadequate, as we found out from a report we organised for the European Blind Union.

On 29 November 2007, the European Parliament approved the text of the Audio Visual Media Services Directive (AVMS), which had been submitted to it by the Council of Ministers. The European Parliament made no amendments to the text which the Council had agreed.

The Directive has now come into force and Member States now have two years to implement its requirements.

The new clause in the directive states:

"Member States shall encourage media service providers under their jurisdiction to ensure that their services are gradually made accessible to people with a visual or hearing disability."

We are also working at European level to ensure that digital television sets will become accessible to blind and partially sighted people. For example, we are working with the European Commission and others on the provision of speech output as an alternative to on-screen menus on digital TV. We have been at the centre of negotiations with European TV manufacturers, and we are continuing to urge them to make digital TV sets fully accessible to disabled people. A member of the European Campaigns team spoke on this issue at last December's European "eInclusion" summit in Lisbon, and we will keep the pressure up in 2008.

Telecommunications equipment

In 2006 the European Commission began to review the group of EU directives which cover telecommunications. Reform proposals were published by the Commission in November 2007 and will now be examined by the Council and the European Parliament.

By responding to consultations on this review and participating to stakeholder working groups at both UK and EU levels, RNIB and EBU are working to ensure that next generation telecoms equipment will be accessible to blind and partially sighted people.

Increasing employment / income amongst blind and partially sighted people

Three quarters of blind and partially sighted people of working age in the UK are unemployed. Although the European Union does not have direct jurisdiction on employment issues, the governments of the Member States have agreed on a tool to give direction and co-ordination to employment policies at EU level. This framework is the European Employment Strategy (EES).

The EES' three-year reporting cycle is based on Employment Guidelines, which set out common priorities for Member States' employment policies, National Reform Programmes, in which is described how these Guidelines are going to be designed and implemented nationally, a joint Employment Report, Recommendations and an EU annual report, which all review progress made at both national and Community levels and suggest specific recommendations.

The current EES (2005 to 2008) is being reviewed, and this means that RNIB is able to influence EU work on employment in accordance with our UK campaigns.

Disability Leave and Better Employment Policy campaign

We are working at EU level to raise awareness of the issues affecting blind and partially sighted people in finding and retaining employment - such as prejudices towards their disability, the importance of technical equipment and the importance of continuing support after people succeed in finding a job. The journey to employment may be different for each individual with some able to take further steps towards full employment than others. We therefore seek to cover the full spectrum of employment provision, promoting this “employment continuum” approach so that each individual can achieve their own optimum level of employment. We are also promoting the idea of a Europe-wide provision for disability leave and job retention.

Social Policy and Social Inclusion campaign

We work to ensure that blind and partially sighted people are part of the UK government’s social policy and social inclusion agendas. Two areas of particular importance to the European campaigns team are the National Action Plan (NAP) on Social Inclusion and the National Reform Programme (NRP) on Employment. The government is required to submit both to the European Commission.

RNIB is represented on the UK NAP steering group, which consists of civil society organisations as well as relevant government departments. The 2006-08 NAP is entitled ‘Working Together’ and can be found on the NAP section of DWP website.

RNIB was also a stakeholder in the NRP, which is a document where the UK government has to set out how it plans to deliver on the Lisbon strategy (PDF) between 2005-08. The latest update on implementation was published in October 2007 on the Treasury website.

Please note that RNIB cannot be held responsible for the contents of external websites.

General Disability Directive

RNIB continues to campaign on this issue as we have done since the 2003 European Year of People with Disabilities.

In 2003, the European Disability Forum (EDF) took the initiative to draft a proposal for a shadow general disability directive. The idea is to get the European Commission to propose an EU equivalent of the UK Disability Discrimination Act. RNIB believes it should also cover areas currently excluded from the DDA such as manufactured goods and accessible transport.

2007 was a year of many anniversaries: not only was it 50 years since the Treaties of Rome which marked the beginning of what is now the EU, it was also the 10th anniversary of EDF (European Disability Forum) and the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All.

We therefore seized this opportunity to up the ante on the Disability Directive campaign. In September 2007, RNIB, Sense, Leonard Cheshire and Guide Dogs organised an event in Westminster in support of the European Disability Forum's 1million4disability campaign for a disability directive.

We were pleased to have attracted a good list of speakers to the event. Along with Lord Low and Tony Aston, Anne McGuire, Robert Evans MEP and two people from the European Commission spoke at the event.

RNIB also participated to the event organised by the European Disability Forum on 4 October 2007 where the petition signed by more than 1.2 million European citizens calling for a disability directive was handed out to commissioner Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Commission.

The European Commission is now exploring the opportunity to propose legislation on anti-discrimination outside the field of employment. Relevant updates about these initiatives, including RNIB’s campaigning work, will be added to this page during 2008.

Public procurement

RNIB strongly believes that public procurement should be used to promote best practice for employing vulnerable groups such as disabled people in mainstream employment and social enterprises. We campaigned to ensure that accessibility and design for all criteria were included in the EU Public Procurement directives. Since 31st January 2006, the directives have had to be implemented in the UK and we will be ensuring that the provision we helped to secure will be used to its full potential.

Eliminating needless sight loss and improving access to health and social care

At EU level, these two RNIB campaign priorities are closely related. Although the EU does not have direct jurisdiction over the health policy of its Member States, it does have some degree of influence over public health issues. The EU is also playing an increasingly prominent role in disease prevention work as foreseen in the proposed Health and Consumer Protection Strategy for 2007-13.

We therefore take advantage of the scope to highlight eye health issues at EU level and to build on the campaigns we run to raise public awareness on a wide range of eye health issues here in the UK. Some of our European networks such as EDF, the Social Platform and various EU health organisations also enable us to keep abreast of relevant developments.

Smoking and blindness

The main focus of our recent EU work to eliminate needless or avoidable sight loss is RNIB’s major smoking and blindness campaign.

Smokers are more than twice as likely to develop AMD (Age-related macular degeneration) as non-smokers. As this is the main cause of blindness in the EU, RNIB feels that it is an issue that must be tackled.

The existing warnings printed on tobacco packaging, e.g. smoking can kill, are governed by EU legislation. We are therefore lobbying at EU-level to add a warning about the link between smoking and blindness to the list permitted by directive 2001/37/EC.

In October 2007, the European Parliament adopted an amendment highlighting the link between smoking and blindness and calling for a revision of the list of warnings of tobacco products. However, the European Commission still hasn't released proposals for a review of the list of warnings.

We are very concerned about this lack of action since it is clear that the messages on tobacco products are only effective if they remain fresh. New warnings, especially if text is combined with pictorial warnings and a helpline number on each cigarette packet, are essential to ensure that smokers continue to respond to the messages. We have therefore started lobbying at UK and EU levels to ask the Commission to act urgently.

Other Issues of note

EU Work Programme

Every autumn, the EU adopts an annual work programme. This sets out the focus and aims of the Commission’s policy objectives and work over the following year. The programme is required by the Commission’s rules of procedure.

The 2008 Work Programme (PDF) was presented on 23 October 2007.

Some of the strategic initiatives of interest to RNIB are:

  • Proposal for a directive implementing the principle of equal treatment outside employment
  • Public consultation and impact assessment on a possible proposal from the Commission on eAccessibility legislation
  • Communication on a European Strategy for Social Services of General Interest
  • Review of existing legislation on VAT reduced rates
  • Review of the Electronic Communications Framework
  • Pharmaceuticals package, including the directive on pharmaceuticals - information to patients
  • Commission Recommendation on Active Inclusion based on the social reality stock-taking exercise carried on in 2007
  • Communication on 'A renewed commitment to social justice in Europe: deepening the open method of coordination in social protection and social inclusion'

Relevant updates about these initiatives including RNIB’s campaigning work, will be added to this page during 2008.

RNIB is not responsible for the content of external websites.

European Day of Disabled People – 3 December

In 1992, United Nations resolution 47/3 proclaimed that 3 December every year would be the International Day of Disabled People. The European Commission has, since 1993, has therefore celebrated the European Day of Disabled People. The Commission sees this day as an opportunity to raise awareness of disability issued and to encourage EU co-operation in the disability field.

The theme for 2007 was Active Players in the Internal Market. Further information can be found on the website of the Commission’s DG Employment and Social Affairs.

Report on the situation of people with disabilities in the enlarged European Union: the European Action Plan 2006-2007

On 26 November 2007, the European Commission published a Communication on the situation of people with disabilities in the enlarged European Union: the European Action Plan 2008-2009.

The European Parliament is preparing a report on the Action Plan.

Programme of Community Action in the Field of Health (2007-13)

Health action remains under the control of the Member States, however the EU does have some steer in the areas of public and cross-border health. The proposal for the action has three broad objectives, which are to:

  • Promote health thus improving prosperity
  • Create, ensure and disseminate knowledge about health
  • Improve the health security of EU citizens

The proposals, which aim to help improve the health of European citizens, are in line with RNIB’s campaign aims of preventing needless sight loss, particularly strands such as the health dangers of smoking or ensuring that people can access information about health and being healthy. We will therefore seek to contribute to the EU’s strategy.

European Structural Funds

The structural and cohesion funds are the EU’s main tools to support social and economic cohesion across the EU. The current programme is designed to run from 2007-13. Of direct relevance to blind and partially sighted people is the European Social Fund (ESF), which is intended to promote social and economic cohesion. In the UK they will be used to extend employment opportunities – particularly developing the skills of people who are unemployed and disadvantaged to create a skilled and adaptive workforce. This is to reach the goals of the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs.

The 2007-13 ESF focuses on five key areas:

  • increasing adaptability of workers and enterprises
  • enhancing access to employment and participation in the labour market
  • improving training and skills
  • reinforcing social inclusion by combating discrimination and facilitating access to the labour market for disadvantaged people
  • promoting partnership for reform in the fields of employment and inclusion

More details about the European Social Fund (ESF).

International campaigns

RNIB is a member of the European Blind Union (EBU), which is itself a member of the World Blind Union (WBU). Many international issues affect blind and partially sighted people in the UK and RNIB therefore works at an international level where appropriate.

The following are our main current areas of international work.

UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People

The UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of Disabled People in its General Assembly on 13th December 2006. It was opened for signature and ratification on 30 March 2007, and will enter into force after 20 countries have ratified it. As of 12th February, 125 countries have signed the Convention and 16 have ratified it.The convention provides that States which ratify it should enact laws and other measures to improve disability rights, and also abolish legislation, customs and practices that discriminate against persons with disabilities.

When he was UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, said the Convention represented the "dawn of a new era" for around 650 million people worldwide living with disabilities.

We worked to ensure that the views and needs of blind and partially sighted people are taken into account in the negotiations to establish the Convention .On behalf of the WBU, RNIB attended the United Nations Convention meetings in New York to lobby government delegations to ensure that the final Convention encompasses the rights of blind and partially sighted people.

RNIB is now working with our international partners to ensure that the largest possible number of States, including of course the UK, ratify the Convention and that that the subsequent monitoring of its implementation is carried out effectively.

International free postal service

The Universal Postal Union (UPU) is the UN body which governs the exchange of post at international level. The World Blind Union is a member of the UPU's Consultative Committee. Through this forum, we are calling for the modernisation of the rules on the free postal service for blind and partially sighted people which appear in the UPU's Convention. We are asking for the exemption to explicitly cover the mailing of items such as white canes, computer disks and so on. At present the text refers vaguely to "literature". As often at international level, campaigns move slowly. We anticipate our work on this issue culminating in the implementation of the changes we seek at the next UPU Congress which will take place in Geneva in July 2008.

Contact us

Dan Pescod, Campaigns Manager - Europe, International and Accessibility.

Dan.Pescod@rnib.org.uk

Anne Spinali, European Campaigns Officer.

Anne.Spinali@rnib.org.uk

Useful links

Please note that RNIB is not responsible for the content of these external websites

Content author: eurocampaign@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 08/04/2008 18:38

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