EVENTS

On May 2-3, 2023, the EU Sport Forum of the European Commission was organized in Stockholm during the Swedish Presidency of the European Union, also streamed online. Traditionally, EAS participates to this important event with many key sports organisations.

Paulina Modlitba, Member of the board of UN Women Sweden, moderated the welcome session opened by an online message of Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. Jakob Forssmed, Swedish Minister for Social Affairs and Health, and Tomasz Frankowski, Member of the European Parliament and Co-chair of European Parliament Sport group, who introduced the themes of the event focused on integrity, good governance and gender equality. During the event, also the sustainability of sporting events, the role of sport for physical and mental health, and the development of skills and competences of sportspersons were addressed.

Philipp Lahm and Célia Šašić, respectively Director and Ambassador of the UEFA Euro 2024 event, emphasised the relevant role of sports events in presenting the European sport values and sustainable development.

During the first panel, Viviane Hoffmann (Deputy Director-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture – DG EAC), Bjørn Berge (Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe), Sarah Keane (President of the Olympic Federation of Ireland), Stefan Bergh (President of ENGSO), and Barbara Fuertes (Representative of the Spanish Presidency) discussed the policies, strategies, and good practices on Women in Sport: Form Grassroots to Leadership.

Positive samples of European initiative in sport were granted the 2023 #BeInclusive EU Sport awards, which encompass the categories “Breaking Barriers”, “BeEqual”, and “Sport for Peace”, given to Free Movement Skateboarding (Greece), Kayak Club Zlatorog (Slovenia), amd Youth Line Portugal (Portugal), respectively.

In her key speech Catherine Chabaud, Member of the European Parliament, reported her experiences as a sailor having concerns to preserve the ocean environment and to limit climate changes.

The second panel addressed Integrity in Sport. Olivier Niggli (Director General of WADA), Paquerette Girard-Zappelli (Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer of the IOC), Vincent Ven, Head of Anti Match Fixing of UEFA), and Tine Vertommen (Researcher at Thomas More University of Applied Sciences) debated the role of education and prevention to enhance ethical issues and good governance, and to avoid corruption, doping, and harassment.

Two 3-parallel sessions completed the first day. In particular, dual career of the sportsperson was discussed within the “Sport skills, a lifelong competence” session moderated by Ignazio Cocchiere (Policy Officer, Sport Unit) and panellists Claudia Bokel, former Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission) Laurent Petrynka, President of the ISF, Saga Fredriksson, Football player at Malmo FFM, and Sergio Lara-Bercial, Vice President of ICC  E. Dual career was also addressed during the beginning of the second day with the two keynote speeches of Maja Poljak  and Cédric Van Branteghem, former athletes from Croatia and Belgium, respectively.

Floor van Houdt (Head of the Sport Unit of the European Commission) and Luciano Di Fonzo (Deputy Head of Unit for Erasmus Mundus and Sport of EACEA) illustrated the main events, initiatives and funding opportunities of the European calls is sport. In particular, around 359 Erasmus+ projects are expected to be funded, in addition to the novel mobility actions in sport. The Youth Lab provided some ideas regarding Healthy Lifestyle 4 All, whereas Viviane Hoffmann, Deputy Director-General of DG EAC) of the European Commission offered the closing remarks. More information on the event is available at  https://eusportforum2023.eu. You will find all the recording of the plenary session as well as the #BeInclusive Awards here. More pictures of the event can be found here.