Tag: sport

Plans for an EU-wide legal approach to match-fixing and money laundering in sport are under way, with the European Parliament committee on mafia and organised crime holding a debate on the issue yesterday (17 September).

Sport should be granted specific funding from the EU budget as it helps to deliver major policy objectives in areas like health, education and employment, argued a report published by the UK's House of Lords yesterday (6 April), giving weight to the European Commission's bid to ensure that the EU's new sports programme is adequately funded.  

Major sports events such as the football World Cup will be available to all television viewers in Britain and Belgium after global soccer governing body FIFA lost a legal challenge yesterday (17 February) against a European Commission decision to ensure free TV coverage of lucrative tournaments.

Leading sports organisations have backed plans by the European Commission to encourage collective selling of media rights in a bid to ensure that revenue is shared more evenly between sports clubs. But a British MEP expressed fear that the EU will interfere with TV rights for the English Premier League.  

Sport, as a tool for education, development and peace, can promote cooperation, solidarity, tolerance, understanding, social inclusion and health at the local, national and international levels, according to leading European sports think-tank Sport and Citizenship.

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. 

As football fever takes hold of the world for the next month, the majority of South Africans believe in the potential long-term benefits of hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup, such as national unity and improving the country's image as a tourist destination.

The EU's elite athletes' association has joined forces with the European gambling industry and online sports bookmakers to educate professional sportspeople on the integrity of betting.

In the framework of the EU's new competence on sport and in view of the upcoming EU sport programme, the European Commission is seeking citizens' input on strategic priorities for action.

"There is a factual antagonism between sports regulation and the notion of European identity," writes Muriel Féraud-Courtin, a lawyer at French law firm TAJ.

European football clubs who train young players only to see them sign their first professional contract with another EU team can now claim compensation for the loss, European judges ruled yesterday (16 March).

Russia is pressuring local journalists to toe the Kremlin line on preparations to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, blocking coverage of environmental problems and evictions, a leading media rights group said.

With the new European Commission in place, the Olympic Movement has been quick to table its priorities for implementing the new EU competence on sport.

The main challenge for sports authorities is to reconcile prosperity with political and financial independence, writes Vincent Chaudel, director of sport at Ineum Consulting and vice-president of French think-tank Sport et Citoyenneté, in a December paper.

Providing better training and boosting the mobility of young Europeans is key to helping the EU to emerge from the crisis, Commissioner-designate for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou told MEPs at her hearing in the European Parliament yesterday (14 January).

Sports organisations should strive towards better gender balance among their top executives, as women can generate new business by generating increased 'consumer' understanding and different arguments, says Amanda Bennett, chair of the European Women and Sport group, in an interview with EurActiv. 

With the Lisbon Treaty set to enter into force tomorrow (1 December), giving the EU a formal competence on sport, the European Commission is about to launch a wide stakeholder consultation to prepare for the first EU sports programme, expected to be launched in 2012. 

With the final hurdles to ratifying the Lisbon Treaty overcome last week, the EU is starting major preparations for the successful introduction of Europe's new competence on sport and the development of a proper EU sport programme. 

The European Parliament amended the EU's draft budget for 2010 last week to include €3 million for sport projects. This is €1.5 million more than proposed by the EU executive, but still less than the previous annual budget.

The XIIIth Olympic Congress last week approved a number of recommendations for using digital technology and the Youth Olympic Games as tools to boost interest in physical activity among young people.

The European Commission should use its upcoming sports competence to bring the EU closer to citizens by sports club twinning, cross-border exchange of minority sports and establishing an Erasmus programme for exchange of sportspeople, Irish MEP Seán Kelly told EurActiv in an interview.

The sixth Francophone Games, inaugurated yesterday (27 September) in Beirut, bring together some 3,000 delegates from 42 countries to compete in six sports and seven cultural events over the next ten days.

Stakeholders have been asked to help the European Commission to understand how sports volunteering currently works in different member states so that the EU executive can identify possible future actions and policies.