Brussels, 08/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 8 June in Brussels, the commissioner responsible for education, training, culture, youth and sport, Jan Figel', met the president of the International Olympics Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge, as well as several other sports bodies. The meeting aimed to continue discussions begun during the informal Lausanne meeting on 26 January, as part of the Declaration of 11-12 December 2008 in which heads of state and government called for permanent and strengthened dialogue between sports bodies and the European Union. Commissioner Figel' welcomed the “open minded discussion” and said that “the positive spirit of cooperation, created in Lausanne at the beginning of the year, continues to shape the dialogue between the Commission and the sport movement”. Mr Rogge stated that “by working together, we can improve our ability to bring the benefits of sport to the European Union and find more effective ways to combat doping, illegal betting and other threats to sport”. Mr Rogge also said that their approach had been positive with regard to all the different issues.
The different parties exchanged points of views on subjects of current interest, such as funding for sport, intellectual property rights, drugs, the compatibility of sports rules with European company law and the free movement of people (Ed: the “6+5 rule” and random drug testing, which are a source of friction between the sports bodies and European Commission). They also discussed implementation of the White Paper on sport and the launch of preparatory action in sport funded by this year's European budget. In addition the different bodies discussed the next European forum on sport in April next year, as well as the implications of the Lisbon Treaty on sport. The economic crisis and its implications on sport was another subject they discussed. The different parties said that high level sport is not very affected by the crisis but explained that this would be felt more intensely at a level of amateur clubs which find it difficult to find sponsors at a time when their subsidies are falling. Jacques Rogge stressed the delicate nature of this subject. Commissioner Figel' welcomed the accomplishment that the European Voluntary Year 2011 would have in shedding light on sport because volunteers are particularly active in different sporting fields. (I.L./transl.rh)