The Study had been commissioned by the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs. The Study reflected on the progress made, and strengts and weaknesses of the current European Disability Strategy, which comes to an end this year. The Study made 30 recommendations concerning the new Strategy to the European Commission, Parliament and other EU institutions, Member States and other key stakeholders, structured around three themes: the design of the new Strategy, including its scope and content; the infrastructure needed to embed the new Strategy at EU and Member State level; and the implementation and monitoring of the new Strategy. Other participants in the workshop included the European Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, who said the Commission would take the Study into account in preparing the new Strategy, and the European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, who referred to the value of the Study for preparing the new Strategy.

Other MCEL members have also written recently published studies for the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee. Professor Aalt-Willem Heringa and Dr  Hoai-Thu Nguyen authored a Study on Obstacles to Participation in Elections and the Exercise of Voting Rights, Inside the EU; while Professor Ellen Vos, Dr Natassa Athanasiadou and Laura Dohmen authored a Study on EU Agencies and Conflicts of Interest.

Lastly, MCEL member Dr Lilian Tsourdi has been commissioned, together with colleagues from the Odysseus Academic Network on EU Migration and Asylum Law, to write a Study on The EU approach on migration in the Mediterranean for the European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee. The study will be delivered and presented to the Civil Liberties Committee this coming April 2021.