Ljubljana’s second commitment to the European Pillar of Social Rights
The City of Ljubljana signed the second commitment to the European Pillar of Social Rights pertaining to the 17th principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights – Inclusion of people with disabilities.
Within the framework of the campaign Inclusive Cities for All: Social Rights in My City, Eurocities invited Ljubljana to sign a commitment to the European Pillar of Social Rights. The European Pillar of Social Rights, a joint document of the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission, is enforcing twenty principles, that is, rights for EU citizens which can be classified into three categories: equal opportunities and access to the labour market, fair working conditions, and social protection and inclusion.
Last December we signed the first commitment pertaining to the enforcement of the 16th (Health care) and 19th (Housing and assistance for the homeless) principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights. The new commitment, the signing of which was announced at the Eurocities meeting »Building accessible cities for all ages« in June this year, is related to the 17th principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights – Inclusion of people with disabilities.
The area of protection of people with disabilities is otherwise regulated by state legislation, but with numerous self-initiative measures and activities we at the local level can significantly contribute to a friendly living environment accessible to all and to providing opportunities for an independent life.
The commitment highlights following areas:
Preschool education and primary schools
In the City of Ljubljana we annually earmark about 2.5 million euro for the inclusion of children and the youth with disabilities in primary schools. In the past 12 years we have comprehensively renovated or built 6 public kindergarten units and carried out broad renovations, reconstructions and adaptations in public kindergartens and primary schools in line with the contemporary standards for the construction of accessible buildings in the total value of 200 million euro, and the investment cycle is not yet concluded. In 2019 we are going to earmark additional 28.2 million euro from the city budget for investments in this area.
Employment
In the city administration as well as in public city institutes and companies with around 12 thousand employees, in total, the quota system for the employment of persons with disabilities is upheld in an exemplary manner, and regularly surpassed in the city administration. The activation of persons with disabilities in the labour market is supported also by co-financing state programmes for active employment policy enforced by different employers.
Housing
Adult people with disabilities who wish to gain independence can apply for adapted non-profit rental apartments in public tenders of the municipal housing fund. The Public Housing Fund of the City of Ljubljana is expected to ensure approximately 1500 additional non-profit rental housing units by 2022 out of which at least 10% are going to be adapted to persons with disabilities.
Independent living
We are contributing to the creation of conditions for independent living of people with disabilities also by co-financing personal assistance for those people who are not eligible for personal assistance cost coverage on the basis of the Personal Assistance Act. Through public tenders we are co-financing diverse programmes of disability and other non-governmental organisations. We earmark over 10 million euro from the city budget for different types of assistance and care to which the elderly and people with disabilities in Slovenia are entitled by law (these are institutional care, home help and home care assistants).