Brussels, 19/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 18 September, the European Commission announced an important step forward in the fight against match-fixing, with the launch of the Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions - a convention in which the Commission played a key role.
The convention was declared open for signature the same evening, during the Council of Europe conference of Sports Ministers in Macolin, Switzerland.
“Match-fixing is a cross-border problem and action at European level is essential if we are to combat this scourge. We need to ensure that everyone involved in the fight against the fraudsters works together as a team. This Convention will help to increase cooperation between the sport movement, betting operators, law enforcement authorities, governments and the European institutions”, said European Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou who is responsible for sport.
The Convention, developed jointly by the Commission, EU member states and other members of the Council of Europe, aims to prevent, detect and fight match-fixing and the manipulation of sports competitions. It calls on governments across Europe to launch measures to prevent conflicts of interest between sports betting operators and sports organisations, as well as to encourage sports betting regulatory authorities to step up the fight against fraud and illegal betting. During the conference, in which over 50 ministers of sport and leading representatives of the European sport movement participated, Vassiliou was also due to present new EU initiatives financed by the Erasmus+ programme to promote sport and physical activity, including the European Week of Sport. At the conference, the ministers were also due to discuss a revision of the convention on spectator violence and the means to strengthen cooperation between the EU and Council of Europe further in the area of sport, as well as European representation within in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). (IL)