Blog – European Parliament report on Sport

Our European Policy Officer David Foster blogs on the European Parliament's report on sport...

The European Parliament is currently producing its response to the European Commission’s communication on ‘Developing the European dimension Sport’ which was published earlier this year. Although the report is not legally binding, it does gives MEP’s the opportunity to voice their opinions on the Commission’s proposals and for the Parliament to spell out its particular priorities in the field of sport. 

The report in its current form is generally positive and further highlights the European Union’s growing interest in sport in the post-Lisbon era. There are, however, a few areas where the report could be strengthened and accordingly Sport and Recreation Alliance has been working closely with MEP’s to submit amendments to the draft. The amendments will be debated by the Parliament’s Culture Committee at the start of October before the entire Parliament then votes on the report towards the end of the year.

The report mirrors the Commission’s communication in as much as it is broken down into sections that focus respectively on the societal role of sport, the economic role of sport, the organisation of sport and co-operation with external bodies. However, it also introduces a section on ‘advancing European identity through sport’. This is an unsurprising move by the Parliament and it talks of introducing a ‘European Day of Sport’, designating a ‘European capital of sport’ each year and – more controversially – for the EU flag to appear on the clothing of athletes from Member States! It has also chosen to come down quite hard on players’ agents, which has historically been a key focus for MEP’s.

Elsewhere, the Parliament voices its support for better exploitation of European Structural Funds, a favourable legal and tax framework for sport, strong protection of sport’s intellectual property rights and robust defence of sporting integrity, in terms of both anti-doping and corruption. Plans to introduce an EU branch of the Court of Arbitration for Sport are more concerning, as this could potentially undermine the authority and supremacy of the court.

These are interesting times for sport in Europe. The Hungarian Presidency agreed a new EU Work Plan in the field of Sport which has redefined the Commission’s work priorities for the next three years. Negotiations on the EU’s multi-annual financial framework for 2014-2020 are on-going but at present sport is encouragingly placed to have it first dedicated budget line.  With issues of governance, match-fixing and on-line gambling also high on the agenda, the coming months and years could be very significant for the future of European sport. Watch this space.