Social Agenda Issue 54

MEDIA New season for “Real Economy” TV show. ................................................................. 6 PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES Accessibility directive coming up. ................................................................................... 8 2014-2019 Social policy at heart. ........................................................................................................... 11 SPECIAL FEATURE European Commissioner Marianne Thyssen: “It’s all about skills, skills and skills!”. .................................................................................................................................. 14 ACCESSIBLE CITIES Anna, Sanja, Hugo - what accessibility really means. .......................................... 24 OTHER VOICES The European Accessibility Act, a step forward but still a long way to go: Marie Denninghaus, Policy Coordinator, European Disability Forum. ......................... 26 INTERVIEW Social policy on top: Katarina Ivanković-Knežević, Social Affairs Director in the European Commission. ........................................................................................................ 27 Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion come under the remit of European Commissioner Marianne Thyssen. The website of Commissioner Thyssen: ec.europa.eu/commission/2014-2019/ thyssen_en The home page of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion: ec.europa.eu/social The website of the European Social Fund: ec.europa.eu/esf A magazine providing information on European employment and social policies, Social Agenda is published four times a year in English, French and German by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. Editor in chief: Joost Korte, Director-General, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion – European Commission, B-1049 Brussels. Subscription is free on request – please fill in the registration form available at: https://europa.eu/!vM96rm Notice: Neither the European Commission, nor any person acting on its behalf, may be held responsible for the use to which information contained in this publication may be put, or for any errors which, despite careful preparation and checking, may appear. © European Union, 2019 Non-commercial reproduction authorised, subject to acknowledgement of the source. For any use or reproduction of photos which are not under European Union copyright, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holder(s). © Cover: Shutterstock, 2019 Inside this issue... 2 / SOC I A L AG E NDA / MA R C H 2 0 1 9