[Greater mobility in Europe--current European developments for barrier-free transportation]

Harmonization and coordination at the European level of all measures taken on behalf of disabled persons is an indispensable prerequisite for enabling convergence of conditions to occur at the highest possible level. This is true above all for the initiatives and activities that go beyond the specific domain of social policy, and in particular for the developments in the field of accessible, barrier-free environmental design. The Federal Rehabilitation Council (Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft für Rehabilitation) cooperates in a number of European activities directed at achieving accessibility of regional, rail and air transport, as well as of passenger ships. This involvement is aimed at bringing long-term national experience in this respect to bear in the context of European developments, and at inclusion of the standards already achieved in the transport sector in Germany also in the efforts undertaken toward accessibility in European transport.