AGE joined a coalition of NGOs to call upon EU decision-makers to uphold the issues of equality between women and men, accessibility for persons with disabilities and non-discrimination in the proposal for the Common Provisions Regulation 2021-2027 and in the Funds specific regulations.

In the current funding period 2014-2020, the EU structural and investment funds - including the European Social Fund, the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund - are covered by a common regulation that explicitly featured non-discrimination as a horizontal principle of the funds. This horizontal principle does not appear again in the European Commission draft regulation for the 2021-2027 funding period. 

In a common press statement, the 10 members of the coalition call for the restitution of a horizontal principle on non-discrimination in European funds, recalling EU’s obligations to promote equality between women and men and combat all forms of discriminations under the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of persons with Disabilities. 
The statement also points out the important role played by the Common Provisions Regulations, in particular at a time where Europe is confronted with rising extremism, radicalism and inequalities.
    

Read our full joint statement here