European Commission reaffirms its commitment to advancing accessibility in a debate held in Strasbourg

Speaking on behalf of the Commissioner for Equality, Hadja Habib, European Commissioner for Climate Wopke Hoekstra stressed that accessibility remains key to ensuring equal participation for the EU’s 87 million persons with disabilities. 

Hoekstra highlighted the achievements of AccessibleEU, which now connects more than 5,000 experts, has delivered over 260 capacity‑building events, and maintains a digital library of more than 450 examples of accessibility best practice. He confirmed that the Commission is preparing an updated disability strategy extending to 2030, with accessibility at its core.

Across political groups, MEPs welcomed the progress delivered by AccessibleEU but urged the Commission start enforcing rules more strongly. They pointed out that existing laws, like the Web Accessibility Directive and the European Accessibility Act, are still not applied consistently across EU countries.

Sandra Gómez López from Spain noted that in just three years, AccessibleEU has demonstrated the impact of ambitious EU action, hosting around 290 events, training thousands of professionals, and creating a strong expert network across all member states. She stressed that its success goes beyond numbers, as the programme is driven by persons directly affected by accessibility issues and aims to improve life for everyone, not only persons with disabilities. 

Several MEPs focused on the socioeconomic barriers affecting people with disabilities. Ciaran Mullooly from Ireland stressed the importance of helping people live independently and said that transport and media accessibility rules need updating. 

Vilija Blinkevičiūtė from Lithuania said that AccessibleEU should become part of a stable, long-term EU accessibility strategy. Meanwhile, Sérgio Humberto from Portugal called for full enforcement of EU laws to remove ongoing barriers in jobs, transport and digital services.

MEPs also set out a wide range of priorities for improving accessibility across Europe. Italy’s Chiara Gemma emphasized the need for stronger support for sign language, Braille, and text‑to‑speech technologies, stressing the democratic importance of linguistic accessibility. 

Other MEPs, including Li Andersson, Valérie Devaux and Elisabetta Gualmini, draw attention to the need to include strong protections for the rights of people with disabilities in the upcoming negotiations on the EU Budget for 2027–2034. Andersson added that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities should guide the next budget period and stressed that EU money should never be used to support segregated institutional care.

Closing the debate, Commissioner Hoekstra thanked MEPs for their contributions and reaffirmed that the forthcoming update of the EU disability rights strategy would keep accessibility “at its heart”, building on the foundations laid by AccessibleEU.