On 3 December 2025, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, ENIL calls on decision-makers on the EU and the national level to step up efforts to combat escalating discrimination by:
- Adopting a European Independent Living Services Guarantee
- Ensuring that the Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034 strong-ly invests in disability services in line with the 18 Pillars on Independent Living
Escalating discrimination
We need to utter a clear warning that in some areas the discrimination against disabled people is increasing.
In the last decade:
Other indicators show that significant challenges remain:
| 28.8% of disabled people are at risk of poverty, compared to 17.9% of non-disabled people[1] | Up to 60% of homeless people have a psychosocial impairment[2] | 22,2% of 18-24 year olds “with activity limitations” were early leavers from education and training compared to 8,4% of their peers “without activity limitation[3] |
The cost of discrimination to the individual
Institutionalisation includes from all areas of life and exposes to violence. It has been found that institutionalization reduces life-expectancy:
“I will punch you in the kidneys” (Quote from a care assistant)
“Every time I came into the room, I could see that the person was expecting to be abused” (Quote from a care assistant)
Institutionalisation, being prevented from accessing employment and education, lead to a lack of purpose in life, to poverty and to homelessness.
The cost of discrimination to the society
Institutions do not only violate human rights, institutions are expensive. Countries spend high shares of their GDP on long-term care. Nursing homes are responsible for up to 80% of the share:[4]
| Netherlands: 4,4% | Sweden: 3,4% | Denmark: 3,2% |
Because of those discriminations, millions of people are prevented from contributing to society and our economies with their skills and their ideas, increasing spending on social benefits, causing reductions in GDP and loses in tax revenue:[5]
| 68,2% of disabled people are at risk of poverty before social transfers and 20,7% after | Exclusion from employment costs 0.9–2.4% of GDP in Spain | €0.84–1.42 billion in annual GDP losses and €302–493 million in lost tax revenue EU-wide |
Tackling discrimination by improving access to Independent Living Services
Independent Living is the most effective approach to tackling disability discrimination. The 18 Pillars of Independent Living define which services are required to live independently. For example, disabled people require access to housing in the community, to employment in the open labour market and to mainstream education and training.
Personal assistance and personal budgets can be a precondition to accessing many of the 18 Pillars of Independent Living. Personal assistance is a one-on-one service that entails the provision of one or several support persons which provide support for as much time during the day as required. Personal budgets entail direct payments or disbursement of vouchers, so recipients can purchase the services required.
There is evidence that personal budgets and personal assistance are more sustainable financially than institutions. [6]
The provision of Independent Living Services is in a poor state. The ENIL Independent Living Survey, asked disabled people from all over Europe for their opinion.
- Respondents were required to score each element between 1 and 5
The results show low scorings overall:
At the moment, only eight EU countries have personal budget schemes in place.[1] In 25 countries, personal assistance schemes exist but Ireland, Portugal, Greece, Lithuania, Italy and Croatia are only running pilot projects. Also, in Spain and France no nation-wide schemes exist. In many countries, we see very uneven implementation between regions. Both for personal budgets and personal assistance there are serious quality concerns.[2]
For the vast majority of disabled people in the EU, access to personal budgets and personal assistance remains unattainable.
Tackling discrimination by improving access to Independent Living Services
To reduce the costs of discrimination to the individual and to society, we need to:
- Ensure there are nation-wide personal budget and personal assistance schemes in every country
- Increase the quality: For example, access needs to be guaranteed as a right and not contingent on annual budgetary dispositions. Budgets provided need to be linked to real costs and recipients need to receive support by Centers of Independent Living.
We are calling on the EU to:
- Create the framework to engage in a dialogue with member states on how to reform national systems
- Provide funding from the Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034 to finance projects in as many countries as possible
For a European Independent Living Services Guarantee
The EU adopted a European Child Guarantee and a European Care Strategy based on articles 153(1)(j) and (k) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union which allow the Union to take action to combat social exclusion and to modernize social protection Systems. Both initiatives did little to support the expansion of Independent Living Services.
We are proposing a European Independent Living Services Guarantee, including Council Recommendations on Personal budgets and Personal Assistance. These recommendations should contain detailed proposals on how to build high-quality schemes.
Such an initiative would allow the EU to start coordinating policies with national governments and to engage in a continuous dialogue.
For a Multiannual Financial Framework that supports Independent Living
The current proposals for the Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034 are unlikely to make a contribution to Independent Living. Compared to the current funding period, EU-level directions on how to use funding have been weakened. Spending on disability inclusion does not seem to be a priority.
We are calling on decision-makers to:
- Make spending on disability inclusion a priority in the budget expenditure tracking and performance framework
- Earmark funding for disability inclusion in the Regulation establishing the European Fund for Economic and Territorial Cohesion
- Strengthen articles 7 and 8 of the same regulation, to establish compliance with the UN CRPD as a horizontal condition. It needs to be ensure that investments in institutions are not regarded as being compliant with the Convention. Funding for disability inclusion must go into service in line with the 18 Pillars of Independent Living only.
New commitments under the EU Disability Strategy 2026-2030
We are calling on the EU to include commitments for both proposals into the EU Disability Strategy 2026-2030.
For additional input please visit www.enil.eu or contact:
Florian Sanden
ENIL Policy Coordinator, florian.sanden@enil.eu
Contact information
ENIL Brussels Office vzw/asbl Mundo J – 6th Floor Rue de l’Industrie 10 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
[1] See European Parliament 2025
[4] For all examples see OECD 2023
[5] For all examples see OECD 2025
[6] See Nordic Welfare Centre 2021; European Commission 2024
