On Wednesday, Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with the members of the E.S.A.meA

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The progress of policies to address the problems of Persons with Disabilities was discussed

Yesterday, Wednesday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with the members of the National Confederation of Persons with Disabilities at the Maximos Palace, and they discussed the progress made in the implementation of policies to address the problems of Persons with Disabilities with Disability as well as for the problems that still concern PWDs, and need to be solved.

It was pointed out that these issues have been a government priority from the very beginning and that is why the government has already moved forward with a series of horizontal policies to solve them.

“I still remember our meeting that December 2018, before I was elected prime minister, when I had come to your offices and told you that in my person you will see a prime minister who will really provide a solution to the issues that plagued the Disabled here and many decades. And I feel okay with my commitment. But, of course, let me also say that everything we do also raises the bar of expectations. This is how politics is and we recognize that”, stressed Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

“What interests me now is to discuss the next day, what still needs to be done. I have an idea of ​​the requests and issues that concern the People with Disabilities, but I want to discuss them again to make sure that what we agree and commit to are implemented within the time frames we have set”, the Prime Minister pointed out.

“I want to express our satisfaction for the cooperation we obviously have with you, with the Minister of State and his staff and with several Government Ministers. We think that this period, the term of your government, records significant progress in matters of Persons with Disabilities both at the institutional and symbolic and at the purely political level”, noted the president of E.S.A.me.A., Ioannis Vardakastanis.

Mr. Vardakastanis emphasized to the Prime Minister that the E.S.A.me.A. acknowledges the positive actions that have been taken to date, such as the National Action Plan for the rights of persons with disabilities, the establishment of the Personal Assistant for persons with disabilities, the Disability Card and other government initiatives.

The meeting of the prime minister with the members of the E.S.A.me.A. it happened one day after the submission to Parliament for a vote next week, of the bill for the harmonization of Greek legislation with Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 17, 2019, regarding the accessibility requirements of products and services for Persons with Disabilities.

For their part, the representatives of E.S.A.meA. made, among others, specific demands on insurance and pensions, such as increases in disability benefits, the decoupling of welfare benefits from pension and work, the abolition of the suspension of welfare disability benefits for children with severe disabilities or severe mental retardation when they receive their deceased parent’s pension, the issues of increasing pensions, the reinstatement of favorable arrangements for the retirement of parents/spouses/siblings who care for severely disabled persons and the non-reduction of the pension in case of employment of pensioners due to disability.

The meeting was also attended by the Minister of State Giorgos Gerapetritis and the general secretary of the ESAmeA, Vassilis Koutsianos.

RES-EMP

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