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Everyone has the right to live in the community.
But many people with disabilities still have to live The European Union will give countries money to make sure |
The European Parliament approved the Regulations on the European Social Fund (ESF) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) which include explicit support for the transition from institutional to community-based care.
In the next seven years, the structural funds, EU tools for cohesion and social policy, shall help Member States to reform their social care systems in order to ensure greater inclusion of people with disabilities and other groups of citizens with care needs.
The ESF can be used by Member States to fund training of social care workforce and other ‘soft measures’ needed for the development of quality community-based support services. For the first time, the ESF regulation explicitly states that “the ESF should promote the transition from institutional to community-based care. The ESF should not support any action that contributes to segregation or to social exclusion.”
(Regulation on the European Social Fund, A7-0250/125, Article 11)
The ERDF provides Member States with funding for investments in “health and social infrastructure which contribute to national, regional and local development, reducing inequalities in terms of health status, and transition from institutional to community-based services”.
(Regulations on specific provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, 2011/0275 (COD) Article 5, 9a)
