Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-17-Speech-5-052"
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"en.20001117.5.5-052"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission’s position on the relationship between the legal system, Community policies and sport is laid out in the report on safeguarding existing sporting structures and maintaining the social function of sport within the Community, that the Commission presented at the Helsinki European Council in December 1999. The Commission feels that the Treaty establishing the European Community that is currently in force enables account to be taken of the specific nature of sport in general and of its social function in particular. The European Parliament’s statements on this matter and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, confirm the validity of the approach adopted by the Commission.
It is nevertheless true that the enormous dynamic of the Single Market and the increasing commercialisation of sporting activities have caused a number of legal conflicts in this field. Certain sports organisations claim that these conflicts can only be resolved by the inclusion of a reference to sport in the Treaty. The Commission does not fully share this view. With regard to the proposals submitted by the major federations for certain sports, which are in support of a protocol that would exempt them from complying with some of the Treaty’s basic rules, specifically those relating to free movement and to competition, it must be emphasised that this kind of exemption would, if we accept this definition of it, clearly be out of step with all of the objectives we are seeking to achieve. Furthermore, there are serious doubts as to whether such an exemption could even be effectively put into practice. Sport these days – and this needs to be said – is closely bound up with other economic sectors, such as the audiovisual sector or the sector of the promotion and sale of sporting products, for example. What is more, such an exemption would, at worst, not even allow Community actions for the promotion of sport. Other equally important sports organisations, however, such as the national Olympic committees, for example, or national sports federations, have specifically insisted on the need to develop Community actions for the promotion of sport.
In any event, since the adoption of its opinion on the content of the current Intergovernmental Conference, the Commission has advocated that the Conference should focus on addressing institutional issues, which will enable it to take the process of enlargement forwards. This is why the Commission did not include in its opinion any request for new rules on Community competence, for example in the field of sport. In order to further highlight the specific nature of sport and even to provide guidance for the Community institutions on how to deal with sports-related issues, at the behest of the French Presidency, a draft declaration for the Nice European Council is now being prepared which would complement the conclusions of the Santa Maria da Feira European Council on this subject. The Commission hopes that such a declaration appended to the Nice Treaty will make it possible to take the work that has been started with sports bodies further, enabling them to adapt to the new economic climate but at the same time preserving the fundamental nature of their activities. As this Parliament stressed in the Mennea report on the report for the Helsinki Council, this would be carried out in full respect of the Community’s legislative framework. It is in this spirit, Mr President, that the Commission will continue the intense dialogue that it has maintained over the last few months with the sports movement as a whole."@en1
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