HIGHLIGHTS - DECEMBER 2007

14 January 2008

The Slovenian EU Council Presidency Slovenia is this semester’s president of the EU. This is the first of the twelve new states that have joined the EU since its enlargements in 2004 and 2007 to have taken on the leadership of the EU. The most important subjects of the Slovenian presidency will be as follows: a follow-up to the EU White Paper on Sport, sport and health (the drawing up of European guidelines for lifelong physical activity), the economic impact of sport (to prepare common European statistical standards), the fight against doping in sport, and vocational qualification and training in sport (European Qualification Framework). An informal meeting of the EU Sports Ministers is scheduled in Ljubljana on 16-17 March. The objective is to achieve both a meeting of the National Olympic Committees of the 27 EU Member States and to adopt a joint declaration on the traditional values, position and importance of sport in the European Union. 2nd The White Paper on Sport in the European Parliament Following the submission of a first draft report on the White Paper on Sport by European Parliament (EP) rapporteur Manolis Mavrommatis (EVP) in December, the timetable is now set for the EP’s further occupation with this subject. On 22 January, Mavrommatis will submit his first formal draft to the competent Committee for Culture and Education. The deadline for the submission of proposed amendments is 1 February. An internal meeting of all rapporteurs is planned for 26 March in order to consult on the proposed amendments. The Committee for Culture and Education will vote on the report on 31 March. It is planned that the plenary session will deal with the subject on 21 April.

HIGHLIGHTS - NOVEMBER 2007

11 December 2007

1st European Commission: Conference “Violence in sport” The European Commission, jointly with the Portuguese Presidency of the Council, the European Parliament and in association with UEFA, held a conference discussing combating violence in sport as one of the first steps in implementing the Pierre de Coubertin Action Plan. The conference gathered more than 150 experts from clubs, national federations, governmental bodies and other sport related organisations, mainly representing football. The themes emphasised in the keynote speeches were prevention, co-operation and education. The speakers underlined that the sport movement must be engaged in preventing violence together with the law enforcement, information needs to be shared efficiently, and the educational aspect should also be developed, taking into consideration both the volunteers and professionals working in the security sector. The conference conclusions included recommendations concentrating mainly on the themes discussed during the conference in workshops, comprising safety and security at sports events, changing fan culture and tackling racism, developing partnerships and judicial instruments such as stadium bans. The role of the Commission will be especially to provide funding to projects that prevent violence in sports and to facilitate co-operation and operations on a high level. A similar conference discussing doping will take place in the spring 2008. 2nd Parliament report on physical education in schools In November the European Parliament published a report on the role of sport in education, presented by IOC member Pál Schmitt. While the number of overweight children is growing from the estimated 3 million by 400 000 every year, the average time allocated to physical education (PE) has fallen from 121 to 109 minutes per week since 2002, according to a study commissioned by the Culture and Education Committee. The report brings out a number of problems related to school sport. In addition to the decreasing time allocated for PE, the report criticises the choice of sport in schools as limited, and the lessons often too competitive. Moreover, according to the report, the coordination between sport inside and outside of schools is insufficient, and sports facilities often lack funding. In the report it is suggested that PE should be made compulsory, and that in primary and secondary schools there should be at least three lessons of PE a week. Furthermore, "a higher degree of integration" between sports and academic subjects ought to be ensured by the member states. MEPs also stress the need for better sports facilities and recommend that EU structural funds be used to create school and other sports facilities in disadvantaged areas. The European Commission (EC) has announced that they will, together with member states, develop physical activity guidelines by the end of 2008.

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