Brussels, 30/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - At the end of their meeting on 29 January in Dublin (EUROPE 29 January p 14), Troika "Education and Sports" ministers (Ireland, Netherlands and Italy) and the European Commission, represented by Viviane Reding, adopted a joint declaration in which they underline the close links between education and sport, two key components in building citizenship. The ministers also note that: 2004 is the ideal moment for establishing partnerships with the ten future Member States in the area of sport; according to a recent Eurobarometer enquiry (EUROPE 22 November 2003 p 9), around 8 out of 10 citizens think that sport is a tool for promoting cultural dialogue and allows for more effectively fighting against discrimination. In this context, ministers and the Commission are encouraging the sporting and education world to reiterate how to cooperate more efficiently at European and national levels to face such important challenges as the integration of new intakes of immigrants. They also consider that school exchanges in sport could speed up the full integration of candidate countries and call on grass roots organisation to develop new initiatives in this area.
Ministers also called on the Commission to: examine the Year of Sport through Education 2004 via actions to take in the area of public health (they point put that cardiovascular health is a priority of the Irish presidency); establish links for the European Year for People with Disabilities 2003, with sport proving to be an excellent means of fighting against discrimination against these people.