EVENTS

Following the recent publication of the European study “EU Sports Policy: Assessment and Possible Ways Forward” (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/236742/PE652-251_Study-EU-Sport-Policy.pdf), last June 29 and July 1, 2021MEP Tomasz Frankowski, Co-Chair of the European Parliament Sports Group, organized online consultations with several stakeholders.

The meeting was opened by Luka Živić, Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Floor Van Houdt, Head of Unit for Sport, European Commission, and Stanislas Frossard, Executive Secretary EPAS, Council of Europe, followed by short presentations by Ronan O’Laoire, Head of the UNODC Programme on Safeguarding Sport from Corruption and Crime, and Rafał Piechota, Director, Office of the President, World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Then, the representatives of the sports organisations shared their views on priorities and provided recommendations for European policies. In particular, EAS deemed relevant to consider:

• Continuous support of the role of education in and through sport, especially in promoting social values and economic benefits for the Member States.
• A new edition of the European Year of Education through Sport (EYES) to encourage a full recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, which strongly affected the sport and education sectors.
• A continuous defence of the fundamental rights of sportspersons to combine sport and education by extending the EU dual careers recommendations to all the actors engaged in structured sport (e.g., athletes of all levels, coaches, sport managers, and sports media).
• Inter-sectoral cooperation for the inclusion of education in and through sport in the corporate social responsibility policies and strategies of for-profit companies.
• Support of research and monitoring of different aspects of the European sports phenomenon, including the education and career paths of the athletes, coaches, managers and media, also in light of an implementation of the qualification frameworks in sport at national and European levels.
• A full rights of citizenship for sports in the European research area by appointing a sport scientist in the European Research Council (ERC) and by including sport in the keywords of the ERC evaluation panels.