Brussels, 24/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 20 September in Nicosia, the European Commission, Cypriot presidency of the Council of the EU and representatives from the European sports community, adopted a declaration on the fight against match fixing. This statement was made in the context of the “EU Sport Forum”, during an informal meeting of sports ministers. In a Commission press release, the statement explains that match fixing is one of the biggest threats to contemporary sport and a blatant attack on the fundamental values of fair play and respect for others. The declaration also notes that this problem is increasing and affecting greater numbers of member states and different fields of sport. According to a study carried out by the MEP, Emine Bozkurt (S&D, the Netherlands), a member of the European Parliament anti-mafia parliamentary committee, 19 countries have had to tackle problems of this kind. Italy has been affected, as well as countries from Eastern Europe, such as Bulgaria. On Friday 21 September, the Czech press reported suspected match fixing within their national football league. Greece, Turkey, Malta and Finland have also experienced scandals of this kind.
The press release explains that the signatories of the Nicosia declaration believe that the situation requires “urgent, concerted and co-ordinated” action by the public authorities, sports community and gaming operators. The declaration emphasises: - prevention among sportsmen and women but also among supporters and leaders; - follow up and monitoring of the phenomenon through fraud detection mechanisms; - disciplinary and penal sanctions; - co-operation among stakeholders, including international level co-operation. Last week, the European Parliament organised a hearing on this theme and called on the Commission to put forward a framework for taking action in which all member states would face legal penalties for match fixing. (SP/trans.fl)