European disability card: travelling across the EU to become easier for persons with disabilities
The Council agreed its negotiating stance – general approach – on the directive establishing the European disability card and the European parking card for persons with disabilities.
Today, we reached an agreement among EU member states on the new European disability card and the European parking card for persons with disabilities. Special conditions and preferential treatment applying to persons with disabilities in their country of residence will be available to other Union citizens with disabilities travelling to or visiting that country for a short period. Travelling around the European Union is an incredibly enriching experience, and it should be easy and accessible for any EU citizen, without exceptions.
Pablo Bustinduy, Spanish Minister for Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and 2030 Agenda
A common card for an accessible journey across the EU
The aim of this directive is to ensure equal access to special conditions or preferential treatment, such as reduced or zero entry fees, priority access, assistance and reserved parking spaces provided to persons with disabilities during short stays across the EU. This includes cultural and leisure events, sports and beach facilities and transport services.
Furthermore, according to the Council's agreed text, member states can decide to apply the same measures for stays longer than three months, including for EU mobility programmes.
National authorities will be responsible for issuing physical and digital European disability cards, in an accessible format. The cards will be recognised throughout the EU as proof of disability.
The Council took into account the principle of multilingualism: member states will be able to issue bilingual cards featuring both English and their national languages. The Council also gave member states the option of including a QR code on the cards, as the most effective and easy-to-implement tool to prevent fraud.
Moreover, to ensure uniform implementation and mutual recognition across the Union, the European parking card will replace all existing parking cards for cross-border mobility within five years from the entry into force of the directive. The parking card will be issued in physical format, in line with the Council's general approach. Issuing a digital European parking card will remain voluntary for member states.
Awareness-raising and data protection
Both member states and the Commission will be responsible for informing persons with disabilities about the European disability card and the European parking card for persons with disabilities, as well as the special conditions granted to them.
According to the text agreed by member states, an EU website will provide relevant information on the European disability card and the European parking card for persons with disabilities. It will be available in all EU languages and in accessible formats.
The member states agreed to enhance data protection. The Council's text clarifies that the data contained in the digital card will be encrypted and protected against unauthorised use. In addition, the cardholder's photo and signature will be removed from the physical card.
Background and next steps
The proposed directive is part of the EU's strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities 2021-2030. It builds on the experience of a pilot project for an EU disability card, which took place in eight member states, and on the already existing European parking card for persons with disabilities, which was based on a previous EU voluntary scheme.
The Commission proposal was adopted in September and, since then, intensive work has taken place at the technical level within the Council in order to reach a negotiating stance. Negotiations on the final shape of the directive are expected to start as soon as possible once the European Parliament has voted on its mandate at the beginning of 2024.