The Treaty of Lisbon recognises Member States ‘essential role and the wide discretion of national, regional and local authorities in providing, commissioning and organising services (…) as closely as possible to the needs of the users’. This means that the EU cannot act independently in the field of deinstitutionalisation and community care development and impose political and legal solutions, as this domain lies within the competence of the Member States.

The EU can nevertheless be active in the process through its human rights agenda and can influence Member States’ policies through the funding priorities of the European structural and cohesion funds.

The question of institutional care appeared on the EU agenda in the aftermath of the European Year of People with Disabilities in 2003 when three major research projects commissioned by the Commission left no doubt that big residential services are still common in Europe.
Aware of the continuing and troubling prevalence of large institutions, former European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimir Špidla, set up an ad-hoc group which presented a report in October 2009. The report highlights the ”partial and fragmented” nature of available data and calls on the European Commission to work with Member States to address the issue of institutional care reform without further delay.

The group has then transformed into the European Deinstitutionalisation Expert Group and continues to support the Commission (mainly DG REGIO and DG EMPL responsible for ESF) and the Member States with its expertise and knowledge. ESN is a member of this group.

On the policy level, the entry into force of the Charter on Fundamental Rights of the EU in 2009, created an additional legal argument for the transition to community care as the Charter guarantees equality among EU citizens and the right to independent living in their community.

This has further been strengthened by first the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the United Nations’ General Assembly in 2006 and its subsequent signature by the European Union. The Convention, being the first international treaty signed by the EU in 2011, sends a powerful message to the Member States that the Commission will now act more decisively to guarantee that all its citizens have ‘the right to live independently and be included in the community’ (art.19).

Finally, the regulation proposal for the next programming period of the European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund 2013-2020 clearly states that both funds should “promote and support the transition from institutional to community-based care”, thus enabling local and regional authorities to access the EU monies to fund the development of community-based care alternatives.