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LAST YEAR 2003 WAS DESIGNATED THE 'European Year of People with Disabilities' by the European Commission. Announcing the campaign which will include 10,000 events and has a budget of €12 million, Commissioner Diamantopoulou said 'The main purpose of the year is to drive forward the political agenda for full integration of people with disabilities...Physical access to transport and buildings through proper design is obviously a vital start'. Now two new web sites have been created as the campaign gears up for the year ahead. The European Disability Forum has added a link from their busy home page to 'European Year of Disabled Citizens 2003'. If you click on it you find links such as 'Why a European Year of People with Disabilities?', 'What can we expect from 2003?', and 'What is the Madrid Declaration?'. |
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The downloadable logo for EYPD 2003 |
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The last one leads to a special dedicated web site with pages in both English and French. The Madrid declaration proclaims that disabled people want equal opportunities not charity and the web site has links to an endorsement form and to e-cards for users to sign up to it. The other new web site is the official one for the 2003 campaign. A statement on its home page explains that a fuller web site will soon be available but that the current one has basic information. Links at the top of the page include 'The Year', 'News' 'Upcoming events', 'The Logo' and 'Participate'. Clicking on these provides information on such subjects as the march which will take place next year. Starting from Greece this will proceed through all the EU Member States with activities along the way until it reaches Italy at the end of the year. 'Upcoming events' include a European song festival for people with intellectual disabilities and a special Olympics to be held in Ireland next year. By clicking on the 'logo' link the user can download the image below in many different languages and find contact details for the co-ordinators of the campaign in each Member State. In the UK this is the Department for Work and Pensions which has its own web page about the Year. |
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THE TRADES UNION CONGRESS broke new technological ground recently with a 'public online chat'. General Secretary John Monks, together with Labour MEP Richard Corbett and employment law specialist Stephen Cavalier, invited internet users to ask questions about workers' rights in Europe. Mr. Corbett has recently written a pamphlet on the subject. Subjects for questions included the possible blocking of EU legislation on temporary agency staff by the UK government, the effect on manufacturing industry if Britain remains outside the euro-zone, the watering down of the 'Working Time' directive and the rise of the right on the continent of Europe. Some answers were critical of the UK government's line, in particular on the 'temps' law' and on the narrowness of the regulations implementing the work time legislation but all the hosts stressed that the Labour record on workers' rights was far better than could be envisaged coming from the Conservatives.
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