Brussels, 19/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is determined to do “all it can” to help sports bodies and law enforcement agencies tackle the scourge of match-fixing and corruption in sport, European Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou told the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 14 March. In order to ensure a comprehensive approach, all competent Commission services are now working closely together to ensure consistency with the EU acquis on criminal law, data protection and the internal market. The Commissioner pointed out that the Commission is helping to lead a comprehensive response to the scourge of corruption in sport, in coordination with sports governing bodies, Europol, the EU's law enforcement agency, Eurojust, which is responsible for judicial cooperation between national prosecutors, the Council of Europe and UNESCO. Underlining the involvement of organised criminal networks in the latest match-fixing scandal affecting professional football in Europe (see EUROPE 10779), the Commissioner indicated that her services would continue its contact with Europol. She also underlined the Council's recommendation of 13 November last, authorising the European Commission to participate, on behalf of the EU, in negotiations on an international Council of Europe Convention against the manipulation of sports results. The Commissioner declared: “I believe that the Convention, once adopted, will send a strong signal about Europe's determination to safeguard the integrity of sport. The Convention should also be open to the signature of non-European countries, thus addressing the global dimension of the problem”.
Vassiliou highlighted the importance of preventive measures and announced that, as part of the preparatory action for facilitating the launch of the EU sub-programme for sport, five projects in the area of match-fixing would be funded to educate the relevant actors and raise awareness about the problem within both the sports movement and the general public. Work on these five projects started at the beginning of 2013, and results are expected by the first half of 2014. The outcome of the projects will help to spread good practice and strengthen networks, explained the Commissioner. The Commission will also be proposing a recommendation, to be adopted in 2014, to encourage a more efficient exchange of best practice in the prevention and combatting of betting-related match fixing. Recalling the adoption in November of an action plan on online gaming and betting by the services of the commissioner for the internal market, Michel Barnier, Commissioner Vassiliou indicated that she would be pursuing the fight against corruption in sport, in close collaboration with Barnier. She also welcomed the extension of the anti-money laundering directive to the online gaming and betting sector, during the most recent review of the text (see EUROPE 10779), declaring, “Given the evolution of money laundering risks, it is important that the EU framework is able to respond in a robust but flexible way”. (IL/transl.fl)