Helga Stevens honoured for her commitment towards people with disabilities

Parliament Magazine considers Helga Stevens one of the three best MEPs on the Employment and Social Affairs Committee. She is committed to the rights of people with disabilities and is involved in the fight against social dumping. “I consider it my duty to make the inclusion of vulnerable groups possible,” says Stevens. “It is therefore gratifying that European civil society is noticing my efforts.”

An international panel of experts nominates three MEPs per committee each year for the MEP Awards. This year, Helga Stevens has a chance of winning the prize. The fact that she always cooperates constructively with organisations for people with a disability for her parliamentary reports and that she regularly engages with colleagues from all the political groups certainly contributes to this. “Disability has no political colour,” says the MEP. “The estimated 80 million people with disabilities in Europe urgently need more accessibility in the areas of employment, transport and public spaces.”

In addition, Stevens is putting considerable pressure on the European Commission to take stronger action to combat social dumping: “The free circulation of services is in many ways of enormous economic added value for an open economy like that of Flanders. It is not our intention to limit this unnecessarily. But the abuse has to be removed.”