Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-09-07-Speech-4-045"
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Mr President, Madam President-in-Office, ladies and gentlemen, let me begin by thanking all the political groups for the support they have expressed for the action of the Commission on the issue of the transfer rules. We shall enter into dialogue now with a view to finding, along with the European football chiefs, a negotiated solution in the form of a new transfer system which is in the interests of football and is consistent with the European Treaties.
Lastly, the Commission has to mobilise the resources at its disposal for the fight against doping. It is essential, for instance, to ensure maximum coordination of policies and regulatory measures. My fellow Commissioners, David Byrne, Commissioner for Health, and Philippe Busquin, who has the Research portfolio, are working at the moment on important initiatives in collaboration with my departments. The adoption of a recommendation on sport and doping is also planned for this autumn. Moreover, the Commission is funding a research project which ought to lead to the standardisation of procedures in the European laboratories that specialise in the fight against doping. Contacts have also been established with the new Commission departments devoted to justice and home affairs, since, as your report rightly indicates, new opportunities are arising to deal with the doping issue in the framework of legislation for the suppression of drug trafficking. Finally, you will easily understand that, in the departments under my responsibility, namely education, vocational training and youth, the programmes that have been prepared will play a significant part in informing young people, raising their awareness of the issues and enlisting their aid in the fight against doping.
Coordination, Mr President, is a means of extending the scope of the action we are able to take here. In accordance with the spirit of the Helsinki report, I have entered into dialogue with governments as well as with the European sports federations on the question of the anti-doping campaign. When I visit Sydney for the Olympic Games, I shall endeavour, together with Mrs Buffet, to meet with sports ministers from the other continents with a view to widening the range of our action and establishing bonds of solidarity among political leaders at a global level.
I should like to take this occasion to thank Parliament for having given us the green light to launch pilot projects. The sum of EUR 5 million has been allocated. One and a half million of this amount has been assigned to the Anti-Doping Agency; the remainder is to be used to finance fifteen European projects. Information campaigns and a number of studies will be conducted, mainly to analyse the underlying causes of doping, in the closest of collaboration with universities, researchers and the sporting community.
You can therefore see, ladies and gentlemen of the House, that our response to the report has already been initiated and that the results of your work here are very encouraging in my eyes. I believe that all of this is only one stage in a process, that more is expected of us, and I am convinced that the Zabell report will serve the Commission as a signpost and a landmark, both in its present activities and in its future initiatives.
Mr President, allow me now to highlight the Helsinki report and the social dimension of sport. This report has furnished the Commission with its first defined ‘doctrine’ in the realm of sport. In that respect, the report is fundamental, and I thank Parliament for having played a crucial role in its development. In 1997, in fact, Parliament called on the Commission to prepare a Community initiative in the domain of sport, and in that same year a declaration on sport was annexed to the Treaty, calling on the European institutions to consult with the sports associations before proceeding to deal with any major sports issue. The Commission then launched the broad consultation process from which the Helsinki report drew its inspiration. I, myself, have been privileged to receive solid support from three presidencies, namely the Finnish, the Portuguese and now the French. It is my wish that this favourable combination of circumstances should serve to foster progress, so that sport can be given its due place within the activity of the Community.
Ladies and gentlemen, in my opinion, sport is in good health, maybe even in very good health. If we consider the revenue from television rights or from the sale of sportswear and sports equipment, we have to conclude that sport has never been on a sounder economic footing. It is clear, however, that this economic performance must not be tarnished by the threats that we have all identified together: the phenomenon of doping, the lack of protection afforded to young sportsmen and women, over-commercialisation and the violence that occurs inside and outside sports stadiums. A common approach must be adopted to address these problems. In its Helsinki report, the Commission clearly signalled that it cannot solve all these problems by its own efforts alone. There will be three levels of action: the world of sport, national decision-makers and the Community.
The world of sport comes first. Since 1989, the Commission has been regularly proclaiming its belief in respect for the autonomy of the sports organisations. But autonomy implies responsibility; it presupposes the will and ability to assimilate the new economic situation and adapt existing structures to the new realities of the sporting world. The federations, in fact, must make an extra effort to achieve internal democratisation and to adapt their structures to the needs of amateur sport on the one hand, and those of professional sport on the other. They must try to be more transparent in the way they manage sponsorship and television rights. And as long as the principles of solidarity and the social function, on which the European Parliament has laid emphasis, are clearly respected, we can provide for derogation in specific instances from the rules of competition, for example in connection with the collective sale of television rights. It must be perfectly clear, however, that a blanket exemption from these rules can never be warranted. Moreover, we are banking on transparency and dialogue. To that end, on 17 April I hosted a meeting in Brussels with all the European sports federations, and I shall do so again, together with Mrs Buffet, on 26 and 27 October.
Mr President, it is perhaps symbolic that we should be starting this debate on future policy just before the Sydney Olympics with two rapporteurs who are former Olympic champions. What finer symbol could there be to demonstrate the union, the collaboration, we have seen between the political and sporting worlds in this arena today? Allow me to congratulate the two rapporteurs, Mrs Zabell and Mr Mennea, for their important contributions. Allow me also to thank the chairman and members of the competent parliamentary committee for their constant, unstinting collaboration and to thank Parliament, which is a veritable mouthpiece of the European sporting family and which has always demonstrated the utmost solidarity with initiatives taken by both the Commission and the sports ministers to strengthen sport in Europe.
I am also gratified, Mr President, to note that the two communications issued in December 1999 have generated very lively interest and very broad support. The views of the Commission and Parliament coincide, and they coincide with those of the public too.
I also listened with great interest to the words of Mrs Buffet, who shed valuable light on our deliberations. If I had not already known, her words would have convinced me that we are moving in the same direction, that we are working together in the interest of sport. The concerns expressed by the President of the Council are also those of Parliament and are the same concerns which the Commission has expressed in its two communications. I shall mention four of them and shall return to them in due course. They are the protection of young sportspeople, commitment to the social role of sport, preservation of the sporting ethic and adherence to the principle of solidarity. These are common lines of action; each of us in our respective spheres and all of us together must pursue our efforts to ensure that concrete action is taken in each of those areas.
I hope that the declaration planned by the French Presidency for the meeting of the European Council in Nice can help to define more clearly the specific character of sport.
Beyond the observations which the rapporteurs have made, and to which I fully subscribe, the two draft resolutions prompt me to make one or two additional comments. I shall start with a few words on the Community support plan to combat doping in sport. Doping in sport is not simply an ethical problem. It has become a question of public health, and all the relevant players need to be mobilised to deal with it. For that reason, in response to the request made by the Vienna Council and by Parliament, the ministers responsible for sport and the Commission set to work on this problem.
The support plan you have been examining is more or less the outcome of this work – a provisional outcome, admittedly, because it is only one stage in a longer process. It does seek, however, to define a global strategy to combat this evil. Moreover, in its communication the Commission opted for a three-pronged approach, which is also reflected in this strategy: first of all, assembling expert opinion on the ethical, legal and scientific implications of doping; secondly, contributing to the World Anti-Doping Conference and working with the Olympic movement on the creation of the World Anti-Doping Agency and, thirdly, mobilising the resources at the disposal of the Community with a view to supplementing the initiatives that are already being pursued in the Member States and lending them a Community dimension.
I have already begun to implement this plan, and I should like to present briefly to you today the first initiatives taken by the Commission to combat doping. Firstly, with regard to the initial objective, the Commission requested the opinion of the European Group on Ethics, which was delivered on 11 November 1999; the group proposed a number of measures, and the Commission will take these into consideration in its future actions.
Let us move on to the World Anti-Doping Agency. As you know, and as Mrs Buffet mentioned, the voluntarist approach of the European Union enabled this Agency to see the light of day. Now that it has been successfully brought to life, we must ensure that the Community presence in the Agency is strong and coordinated. At the beginning of April, I also presented a communication to my fellow Commissioners on possible Community membership of the Agency. The question was examined by the Commission, which adopted a very firm and clear position: Community participation could only be envisaged if it had the unanimous backing of all Member States. I hope, ladies and gentlemen, that the efforts currently being undertaken by the French Presidency will lead to the creation of this unanimity and that the Community will be able to participate in the work of the Agency, not only in a financial sense but also, and especially, in the formulation of ideas and political inputs. We are expected to play a leading role, and we are prepared to do so. Let me mention in passing that, pending the inclusion in the Commission budget of our contribution towards the Agency’s operating expenditure, the Commission has released EUR 1.5 million to fund specific initiatives of the World Anti-Doping Agency."@en1
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