"I am quietly confident of victory for the 'yes' side," said Kelly, complimenting a number of Irish sportspeople for having come out to mount a strong campaign for a 'yes' to Lisbon.
"One cannot underestimate the symbolic importance of ratifying Lisbon," he said, adding that the Irish sports community will be very disappointed "if the campaign of misinformation on the 'no' side" wins.
If the Lisbon Treaty is approved, Kelly hopes that the Commission will use its upcoming sports competence to bring the EU closer to citizens.
While there is a widespread sense amongst ordinary people that the EU is distant and unresponsive to their needs, "sport touches the hearts and minds of millions of Europeans, and is something that unites us all," he said.
For this, he proposes the development of an 'Erasmus for Sportspeople' programme, along the lines of the existing EU programme for student exchange. "It could allow young sportspeople across all sports to travel abroad to train and educate themselves in best practice in other member states," he said.
Kelly also proposes "twinning arrangements between different clubs" so that member states can learn from each other and promote cross-border links and exchanges between so-called minority sports, including the sports of the Gaelic Games. Minority sports are "part of the cultural diversity which enriches the EU and I would welcome any initiative which serves to promote cultural and sporting diversity in the EU," he said.
In general, he hopes to see more synergies with other EU policy areas, such as highlighting "the huge contribution of volunteers" to grassroots sport organisations during the European Year of Volunteering in 2011 and developing synergies with tourism and regional development.
As for the upcoming EU sport programme and budget, Kelly stressed that the Commission should not "over-bureaucratise the process of implementing policy" and that any funds allocated "should be brought to the grassroots as much as possible," as merely holding events in Brussels will not promote an EU sport policy.
