During the "Sport" component of the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council held in Brussels on Tuesday 31 May 2016, the Council unanimously adopted the conclusions presented by the Dutch Presidency on strengthening integrity, transparency and good governance in the context of major sporting events.
During the policy debated on the role to be played by governments to improve governance in sport, Luxembourg Minister of Sport, Romain Schneider, highlighted the case of the Grand Duchy, the management and administration of sports is essentially related to the responsibility of licensed sporting federations and associations. These have operational autonomy recognised by law whilst authorities only holds possibilities of action against practices deemed illegal and which would be sanctioned by the courts.
"Improving good governance in sport, should be based on a coordinated approach involving both public authorities and the sports movement," Minister Schneider claimed.
Maltese Secretary of State, Chris Agius, presented the results of the recent meeting of the World Antidoping Agency (WADA), in which he participated as an EU representative.
Commissioner Tibor Navracsics introduced the future direction of the "European Week of Sport" which will soon take place every year from 23 to 30 September 2016. The Commissioner also presented the recent studies conducted by the Commission, one on the specificity of sport, the other on sport's contribution to regional development through Structural Funds. The latter was also an opportunity for the Commissioner to reaffirm that "sport has a strong social deimension and therefore support to local communities is important" and highlighted the fact that 200 sport projects have already received support from the Structural Funds.
Concluding the meeting, the future Slovak Presidency briefly presented its priorities in the field of sport for the last half of 2016, which will focus on sports diplomacy, education through support and supporting talent in the field.
Minister Schnedier was then invited to participate in a structured dialogue with the sports movement, organised by the Dutch Presidency. The sports movement was represented by Michael Van Praaf of UEFA, who announced his candidacy for the presidency of UEFA; Mario Pescante (IOC); and Jean-Michel Saive (Member of the Atheletes Commission at the IOC).
Discussions continued into the subject of good governance in sport, in particular addressing the limits of the autonomy of the operation of the sporting movement, with the sports movement calling for a better return to the true values of sport. In this context, the Dutch Presidency presented its declaration to strengthen the dialogue between public authorities and the sports movement when organising major sporting events.
Photo by The European Union (L-R): Editch Schippers; Romain Schneider
