On 6 May 2026, the European Commission adopted the new European Disability Strategy 2026-2030.
The new Strategy does not include new legislative proposals, but contains 9 new flagship initiatives, each comprising different sets of actions.
These flagship initiatives are: 1)Assistive technologies and AI; 2) accessible transport; 3) implementation of the disability cards;4) inclusive democracies 5) EU Alliance for independent living; 6) Improving the Disability Employment Package;7) Life-long learning; 8) Preparedness to crisis 9) disability inclusive reconstruction of Ukraine.
The specifics of each of these flagships are only briefly outlined in the European Commission Communication. They will be detailed progressively by the Commission and should be co-constructed with the European Disability Platform members, including COFACE Families Europe. Aside from these 9 flagship initiatives, additional actions have also been included in the Communication, for example on improving the availability of disaggregated disability data, or the housing conditions of persons with disabilities across the EU.
On the positive side, several of the proposed actions and flagships are in line the demands of COFACE Families Europe:
- The flagship on inclusive education provides much more prominence to this policy area than in the previous Strategy and covers education from ECEC, including early intervention, to higher education. It includes several policy guidance to be adopted by the Commission as well as a report on enhancing inclusive education, with a reasonable accommodation perspective.
- The Flagship on improving the Disability Employment Package will cover the implementation of the Equality Employment directive regarding reasonable accommodation, which is extremely relevant for parents of children with disabilities, since the European Court of Justice decision on the Bervedi Case, of 11 September 2025. For more information on this case, read the COFACE policy review on the Work-life Balance of parents with disabilities.
- The proposed action on improving the disaggregation of disability data will provide a crucial opportunity to advocate for a stronger family dimension in data collection.
- The flagship on creating an EU alliance on independent living has an important potential from a families’ point of view. The alliance will gather different stakeholders, including civil society and Member States’ governments to discuss the implementation of independent living measures at national level.
On the negative side, the Strategy lacks legislatives proposals, as well as a clear link with the European Care Strategy and supporting measures for family carers. COFACE will continue advocating to strengthen this link through its work for the European Care Deal.
Read the full European Commission communication on the new Strategy through this link.
