"The societal role of sport is a very important aspect of sport policy and I really intend to work on that," said Cypriot Commissioner-designate for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou during a three-hour hearing on Thursday (14 January).
"We really have to use sport for the sake of sport itself but also as a tool for other policies," she continued, referring to her experience as EU health commissioner and knowledge of studies revealing links between a lack of physical activity and obesity, for example.
In addition to promoting health-enhancing physical activity, the commissioner-designate listed promotion of grassroots sport, addressing violence and racism in sport and promoting its social and educational functions among her future priorities.
Asked by Irish MEP Seán Kelly (EPP/Fine Gael Party) about her views on "indigenous sports," Vassiliou said these must be considered "part of our cultural diversity," to be promoted and spread to other member states through EU programmes.
Clearly pleased with her answer, Kelly, a former president of the Gaelic Athletic Association, which represents sports like gaelic football and hurling, said he was at least willing to give the commissioner-designate a "sporting chance".
Legal certainty
Belgian member of the House Ivo Belet (EPP) said that MEPs are keen to get rid of the "case-by-case" resolution of sporting issues by the European Court of Justice, whose individual rulings on compliance of global sports rules with EU legislation are causing unease among international sports organisations.
Belet asked Vassiliou whether she planned to draft guidelines on topics like the collective selling of media rights, public financing of sport infrastructure and the situation of players' agents "to deliver more legal certainty" to the sports world.
Vassiliou said she would need to consult her services to see whether guidelines would indeed be the right solution. Meanwhile, she noted that "we cannot have a general rule for everything" and that different topics needed to be addressed on their own.
She stressed that EU laws on competition, the internal market, freedom of movement and freedom to provide services are all important and need to be respected, but said that the Commission would see how the specific nature of sport can be taken into account in these. She also pledged to work with her fellow colleagues in charge of related portfolios to "find the best possible solutions to address the issues".
