Today, Ireland takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. At the same time, a new Trio Presidency begins, bringing together Ireland, Lithuania and Greece for the next 18 months to ensure continuity in the Council’s work and priorities.

To mark the beginning of the new Presidency cycle, the European Expert Group on the transition from institutional to community-based support (EEG) has published a new set of recommendations addressed to the Irish, Lithuanian and Greek Trio Presidencies.

The recommendations call on the Trio to recognise deinstitutionalisation as a human rights and equality priority and to ensure that the transition to family- and community-based support remains high on the EU agenda throughout the 18-month Presidency programme.

The document highlights six priority areas where the Trio can make a meaningful contribution, including:

• supporting the EU Alliance for Independent Living;
• ensuring that the next Multiannual Financial Framework promotes community-based support;
• strengthening monitoring and accountability;
• integrating deinstitutionalisation into the European Semester;
• mainstreaming deinstitutionalisation across relevant EU policies; and
• promoting mutual learning and the exchange of good practices between Member States.

The EEG welcomes the Trio’s commitment to human rights, equality and social inclusion and looks forward to working with the Irish, Lithuanian and Greek Presidencies over the coming 18 months. We hope to see strong cooperation between the three Presidencies, ensuring continuity and sustained political attention to deinstitutionalisation throughout the Trio programme.

Read the full recommendations here.