Tag: sports - keyword

If the medals won by all 27 EU member states at the Vancouver Winter Olympics were to be added up, the EU would be the big winner of the Games, stress the Young European Federalists (JEF-Europe).

The first commissioner to shape the EU's new competence on sport policy said that she will, if confirmed, emphasise the societal role of sport and aim to use it as a vehicle to achieve positive change in other sectors, such as health, gender equality and education. 

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.

Following complaints by citizens, the European Commission has decided to conduct a thorough analysis of discriminatory provisions adopted by sports federations vis-à-vis non-nationals in the EU 27. Recommendations putting an end to such practices could be ready by the end of 2010. 

While there is global consensus on using sports to promote youth inclusion and boost development, knowledge gaps remain and may be hindering the development of effective European and UN programmes in Africa, stressed a UN forum.

All the European Parliament's main political groups support more EU involvement in sport, even without the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, according to a recent survey. 

Making sport operations and activites environmentally friendly is possible, underlined the director of a French observatory for sport and sustainable development in an interview with EurActiv.

A UN environmental assessment of the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games found that China kept and in some cases even exceeded its sustainability promises. But it concluded that mantaining the green gains, particularly in terms of air quality, remains a challenge. 

Sport is not simply an economic sector like any other and has specific features that have to be recognised and dealt with at EU level, Jan Figel', the EU commissioner responsible for sports, told EurActiv in an interview.

The Olympic Movement has committed itself to using its influence to promote peace and development during sporting events it organises across the globe. But the organisation warned that it will be powerless without stronger support from governments.

The EU assembly has called on the European Commission to support upcoming major Olympic Games in Warsaw and Athens for people with intellectual disabilities. 

Elite sports deflect media attention away from the educational and social roles of sport, argued Nathalie Rossel, co-founder of the French Agency for Education through Sport, in an interview with EurActiv.

As the World Conference on Sport and the Environment this week called on stakeholders to implement green projects to improve the contribution of sport to sustainability, organisers of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver unveiled a "carbon-offset portfolio" of green energy projects.

The Council of Europe's human rights body last week called on governments across Europe to fight racism in sport ahead of last Saturday's international day for the elimination of racial discrimination (21 March).

MEPs yesterday (10 March) overwhelmingly rejected the idea of creating an EU single market for online gambling, backing member states' right to decide on market liberalisation.

The EU's future competence on sport should enable more political discussions and avoid further European Court of Justice rulings that challenge the autonomy and specific nature of sports, said the head of the European Olympic Committee's (EOC) new EU office in an interview with EurActiv.

UEFA President Michel Platini yesterday (18 February) warned that unless his plan to cap clubs' transfer and wage spending is introduced, football could "financially implode" as the economic crisis engulfs the sports sector.