as you are aware social policy including policy relating to people with disabilities is primarily a national responsibility
however stepping up support for disadvantaged groups and in particular for people with disabilities including people living in institutions is a key strand for action under the european social fund
according to some estimates people with disabilities account for at least sixteen of the eu working age population but only forty of people with disabilities are employed
the commission encourages a shift from institutional to community-based care and is working closely with the member states and in particular the managing authorities of the esf and the erdf and ngos in this field
in two thousand and nine the commission published a report by an ad hoc expert group on the switchover from institutional to community-based care
in line with the principle of shared management the member states are responsible for selecting operations for financing under the structural funds
in the current programming period the european social and regional development funds are supporting some de-institutionalisation schemes and the switch-over from residential care to community-based services
this is particularly true in certain member states that joined the eu after two thousand and four
thus projects are being financed in bulgaria and slovakia
as you know the commission is currently working on new provisions on the structural funds for the post twenty thirteen period and will put forward proposals in twenty eleven
to step up the fight against discrimination and promote social inclusion of people with disabilities future operational programmes may for example be required to identify the groups at risk of discrimination and exclusion
the commission will explore the role that national equality bodies could play and may consider stricter requirements on member states reporting of measures to combat discrimination implemented with support from the structural funds
in addition one of the aims of the european disability strategy for twenty ten to twenty twenty which the commission adopted on fifteen november is to give impetus to member states efforts to ease the transition from institutional to community-based care
the strategy seeks to do this by identifying good practice in using the structural funds to encourage people to live independently and in the community and aims to develop awareness-raising initiatives that target structural fund managing bodies at eu and national level
for example a toolkit on how to use the structural funds to support the development of community-based services will be developed for the managing authorities
