Tag: EU sports policy

Without a stricter Europe-wide approach to combat corruption in sport, one of humanity's oldest pastimes risks losing its value, concludes a recent EU-commissioned study by KEA, a Brussels-based consultancy. The think-tank Sport and Citizenship says illegal betting and the recent examples of match-fixing pose among the biggest threats. In the opinion of Philippe Kern, Europe needs stricter laws with new and better methods for prevention, detection and punishment to combat the problem.

Annual funding for the EU's sports policy must increase dramatically if it is to be fully effective, an independent evaluation has concluded. But the European Commission will not decide how much money to allocate to its future sports programme until the autumn. 

The European Commission will look into ways to limit and possibly cap football players' transfer fees after the record amount paid for Spain international Fernando Torres by Chelsea (almost 60 million euros), EU Sports Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou told EurActiv in an interview. 

Combating doping in amateur sport, promoting social inclusion, gender equality and improving the health of Europeans are among the key policy areas to be addressed by the EU's new sports policy. But preparations for the launch were marred by concerns about how much funding would be available for EU sports policies.

The EU's sports policy has great potential to build a "common European identity," but is unfortunately under-funded and its success depends on political will, Laurent Thieule, president of a leading EU sports think-tank, told EurActiv in an interview.

Ministers gathered for the first ever EU Sports Council last week agreed to establish a regular dialogue between representatives of sports movements and EU policymakers. But observers warned that it was not yet clear who was representing the sports movement in Brussels. 

Involvement in sports can drive citizens' involvement in the European Year of Volunteering in 2011, said policymakers at a conference on sport and European citizenship last week. 

The UK's House of Lords today (20 October) launched an inquiry into grassroots sport and the European Union, ahead of the publication next month of the bloc's first ever sports policy.  

A group of MEPs has asked the European Commission to establish a database to collect information on drugs taken by football players during their careers and to assess the causes of football-related disease, such as the deadly Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

The International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA) has asked the European Commission to strengthen support for grassroots sport as a way of giving all Europeans the opportunity to be physically active.

At their first ever official meeting, the EU's 27 sports ministers asked the European Commission to draft a policy framework that highlights the educational and social role of sport.

Meeting on the fringes of the EU Sport Forum 2010 in Madrid, EU ministers agreed to set up a stakeholder advisory group to lead a structured dialogue between the EU institutions, national authorities and the sports world.