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European Parliament Report welcomes the Commission's White Paper on Sport

The European Parliament welcomed today the first comprehensive initiative of the European Commission in the field of sport. In an extensive report, the Parliament supported the Commission's approach and most of the actions contained in the White Paper on Sport, which was adopted in July 2007. The Parliament's report will help the implementation of the "Pierre the Coubertin" Action Plan that accompanies the White Paper, and paves the way for future EU initiatives that could be based on the sport provisions of the Lisbon Treaty that is currently subject to ratification by the Member States.
Ján Figel’, European Commissioner in charge of Education, Training, Culture & Youth, including Sport, said: "The report of the European Parliament confirms that the European Commission took the right approach when we adopted the White Paper on Sport in July last year. I particularly welcome the Parliament's endorsement, because it will help implement the 53 actions that flow from the White Paper in the form of the "Pierre the Coubertin" Action Plan. I would like to congratulate the Parliament's rapporteur, Mr Mavrommatis, who steered the report to adoption with an enriching debate on the role of the EU in the area of sport."
The report shows a high degree of convergence of the views held by the Parliament and the Commission. It is supportive of the White Paper and contains concrete proposals for its implementation. In addition, it supports the development of future sport initiatives based on the Lisbon Treaty and, as a first step, requests a special budget line for preparatory actions in the field of sport in 2009.
Member States and sport stakeholders had already generally welcomed the White Paper. Now the support of the Parliament confirms the pertinence of the White Paper's approach, which is based on respect for the principle of subsidiarity, the autonomy of sport organisations and the current EU legal framework.
In line with the report of the European Parliament, the implementation of the "Pierre the Coubertin" Action Plan, which addresses in particular societal and economic aspects of sport such as public health, doping, education, social inclusion, volunteering, external relations and the financing of sport, is already making progress. The Commission has so far started the implementation of 26 out of the 53 actions included in the Action Plan. For example:
Three studies are under preparation and will be launched in 2008, (1) on the financing of grassroots sport and sport for all, (2) on the necessity or otherwise of EU action on players' agents, and (3) on volunteering in sport.
A high-level conference on racism and violence in sport took place last November, where better means to fight against this problem were identified.
New funding opportunities are open for sport and physical activity in different EU programmes, especially in the Lifelong Learning programme, the Youth in Action programme and the Europe for Citizens programme.
EU Physical Activity Guidelines are being prepared by an expert group.
A working group has developed an EU statistical definition of sport, and several Member States are planning to start the production of data on this basis.
A structured dialogue is being developed with sport organisations such as European sport federations, European and national umbrella organisations such as the European and national Olympic Committees, and European non-governmental sport organisations.
In November, the Commission will organise a European Sport Forum to discuss the implementation of the White Paper with European sport stakeholders, also in view of possible future initiatives based on the new provisions contained in the Lisbon Treaty.
The Commission will remain active and vigilant as regards respect for EU law in the area of sport. In order to provide additional clarity on the issue of the specificity of sport, the Commission maintains an open dialogue with sport organisations and Member States, based on its adopted decisions and existing case law.
The White Paper is available at http://ec.europa.eu/sport/index_en.html