Civil society organisations, including the European Paralympic Committee (EPC) ⁽¹⁾, have a particularly important role to play in bringing Europe closer to its disabled citizens and enabling them to be fully integrated in society. That is the key message of the joint declaration signed, in conjunction with the Paralympic Games in Beijing on 8 September, by Sport Commissioner Ján Figel’ and EPC President Enrique Sánchez-Guijo. It also confirms the EU’s financial aid to the EPC, granted under the Europe for Citizens programme ⁽²⁾. The declaration highlights the role of sport in strengthening social integration.

The European Commission noted on this occasion the different EU instruments used in this field: the European Disability Strategy, which promotes equal opportunity and facilitates access to rights for all people with disabilities, and the White Paper on sport, adopted by the Commission in 2007, which invites the relevant players, in particular the member states and local authorities, to make every effort to adapt sport infrastructures to the needs of the disabled.

A number of one-off actions taken by the Commission in support of people with disabilities have also involved sport. The European Year of People with Disabilities (2003) financed sport events; the European Year of Education through Sport (2004) included several projects on the integration of people with disabilities; in 2005, the Commission organised an experts’ meeting on equal opportunities in sport; and the EU’s Youth programme has also supported sport activities for young people with disabilities.