On Monday 3rd June 2024, the European Expert Group on the transition from institutional to community-based care (EEG) organised a civil dialogue meeting with the European Commission to discuss policy and funding developments in relation to deinstitutionalisation (DI). Historically, the EEG organised these meetings annually, but as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic it was absent for some years. The meeting on June 3^rd provided the opportunity to gain momentum before the new EU legislative cycle and had as main purpose to (re)connect with familiar and new faces in the Commission and the EEG membership. Around forty participants were present representing  three different Directorates-General (DGs) in the European Commission: DG EMPL, DG REGIO and DG REFORM, as well as from the majority of EEG members.

To start the meeting, Pietro Barbieri (Vice President of the Civil Society Organisations’ Group EESC) joined online to welcome all participants and to stress the importance of deinstitutionalisation and the protection of disability rights. Afterwards, the co-chairs of the EEG, Aurélie Baranger (Autism-Europe) and Elizabeth Gosme (COFACE Families Europe), took the floor to remind everyone that the purpose of the meeting was to connect and asked the participants to use this opportunity to connect with someone new.

The first panel was dedicated to the recent  policy developments on deinstitutionalisation. Katarina Ivanković-Knežević (Directorate Social Rights and Inclusion, DG EMPL) provided an overview of the European Commission work  on deinstitutionalisation. She highlighted the upcoming guidelines on independent living and the framework on social services of excellence for persons with disabilities. In addition, Irene Bertana (EASPD) spoke about the recent  EEG statement on the Child Guarantee highlighting the importance of prevention, early childhood intervention and family support.

The second panel focused on funding developments on deinstitutionalisation. Ruth Paserman (Directorate Funds: Programming and Implementation, DG EMPL) spoke about the ESF+, the enabling conditions in the Common Provision Regulations (CPR), the monitoring of programs using the EU funds, and future funding developments to look out for in relation to the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Lastly, Rita Crespo Fernandez (ENIL) took the floor to present ENIL’s new project on EU funds for fundamental rights (FURI). The project aims at collecting and analyzing cases of alleged fundamental rights violations in EU funds that are targeting any of the following groups: people with disabilities, Roma people, and people with a migrant background.

In case you are interested to know more about the speakers’ interventions, here you can find the presentations of Ruth Paserman, Irene Bertana, and Rita Crespo Fernandez.