U.S. AND EU RENEW DIALOGUE ON EMPLOYMENT OF PERSONS WITH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001544

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/ERA, DRL/AE and DRL/ILCSR
LABOR FOR ODEP and ILAB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PGOV PHUM EUN
SUBJECT: U.S. AND EU RENEW DIALOGUE ON EMPLOYMENT OF PERSONS WITH
DISABILITIES

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1. SUMMARY: Assistant Secretary in the Office of Disability
Employment Policy Kathleen Martinez led a U.S. delegation in frank
discussions with their EU counterparts during the U.S.-EU Seminar on
Employment of Persons with Disabilities on November 5 and 6. A set
of common approaches and problems emerged during discussions,
although policy and definition differences among member states make
data collection and review in the EU especially difficult. Both
sides expressed hope that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities will mainstream the issue in the United States,
Europe, and the rest of the world. END SUMMARY.

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INCREASING COOPERATION
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2. European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal
Opportunities Vladimir Spidla and Assistant Secretary of Labor for
Disability Employment Policy Kathleen Martinez opened the two day
seminar by addressing the U.S. and EU's shared challenges and recent
developments for improving employment policy and opportunities for
persons with disabilities. Commisioner Spidla said that he hoped
the seminar was indicative of a new and stronger relationship
between the U.S. and the EU. Martinez echoed this sentiment by
explaining that disability rights are a priority for the Obama
Administration.


3. Speakers from the U.S. and EU described several similar
obstacles for developing and implementing effective policy. Ryan
Easterly, Program Coordinator for the HSC Foundation in Washington
DC, and Mary Kyriazopoulou, Project Manager for the European Agency
for Development in Special Needs Education, presented almost
identical presentations on the transition from education to
employment for young persons with disabilities. Commonalities were
evident throughout the session, for example, around disability
pensions and benefits. Both sides also provided striking examples
of the inability for neither the U.S. federal government, nor the EU
institutions, to "practice what they preach" in their own hiring
practices. Belinda Pyke, Director for Equality between Men and
Women, Action against Discrimination, Civil Society at the European
Commission, said that the EU institutions are "not particularly good
examples" of best hiring practices and "not enough has been
addressed on accessibility or recruitment" for persons with
disabilities.

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27 MEMBER STATES, 27 DEFINITIONS
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4. Commissioner Spidla said that policy making is further
complicated in the EU by differences in definitions among member
states which makes collecting data very difficult. According to the
OECD's Christopher Prinz, Project Leader, Sickness & Disability
Policy Reviews, most EU countries do not have a definition for
"disability", and the definition in those countries that do have one
is so limited it does not accurately reflect the population. The
complexity, according to Pyke, is that all member states need to
agree on whether or not to try to define disability, a difficult
task that must be completed before even discussing the actual
definition. Member states also interpret "reasonable accommodation"
differently. The European Commission recently sent letters to Italy
and Germany inquiring into "unnecessarily severe" definitions of
reasonable accommodation, although the Commission has few
enforcement mechanisms without a common definition.


5. The lack of cohesiveness also makes gathering comparable
statistics, for example data on need for services and the
effectiveness of existing services, difficult to collect. Although
sixteen of the EU's twenty-seven member states have a quota system
to include persons with disabilities in the workforce, the evidence
that these systems are effective is still very limited. Berth
Danemark from the Swedish Institute for Disability Research at
Orebro University explained, "We don't know the effectiveness of
programs, but we continue to invest huge amounts of resources." In
an effort to stem these problems, Pyke announced that the European
Commission is launching an EU wide analysis of member states'
supported-employment programs. The results will be released in

2010. Several panelists also called for additional steps, including
a review of the EU's Employment Guidelines.

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UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
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6. Both U.S. and EU speakers expressed hope that the UN Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will be an important
impetus for change. Yannis Vardakastanis, European Disability
Forum, called President Obama's signing of the treaty "very crucial"

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and an important step forward. Pyke said that ratifying the
convention is a priority for the Swedish Presidency, which ends
December 31, 2009. Ratification, she said, will most likely be
completed by the end of the year and in time for the International
Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3) and to avoid what she
termed, "issues with the Lisbon Treaty." Panelists agreed that the
convention will help the EU prepare the framework for its policy.
Pyke said that the EU will likely attempt to use the convention's
open definition of disability. "This will allow member states to
continue to make their own definition," she explained. She
expressed hope that the convention will encourage better hiring and
retention policies for persons with disabilities in the EU
workforce. She will also brief the European Parliament about the
convention and how the Parliament can apply the principles to the
hiring practices in their own secretariat.

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NEXT STEPS
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7. The seminar concluded positively, with both sides agreeite him on ts priorities.
Martinez ierred aining that the civilizat)ons of Europe and AMERICA
have enough similarities to productively pursue further discussio
on standards.

MURRAY