Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-06-15-Speech-2-671"
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"en.20100615.35.2-671"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, I should just like to start with a reference to the Football World Cup in South Africa, which is again showing every day how great sport can be, how great it is for a country, a continent, and particularly the society there. This makes it all the more important for us to preserve sport from the criminal excrescences to which Mrs Pack has already referred, or to make vigorous efforts to tackle these excrescences.
To quote verbatim from the study you have just mentioned, the results of which are now known, ‘Sport is increasingly affected by organised crime’. This is sad but true. We are talking about human trafficking, sometimes of young children, and also about all kinds of financial malpractice. It is clear that the sports federations themselves have neither the ability nor the power to tackle this malpractice efficiently. A European initiative is indeed required, therefore.
We already have various legislative instruments at our disposal – in the treaty and in certain directives – to enable us to take action. I should like to mention a couple of proposals for action. Firstly, we could set to work on strict criteria applicable to all sports agents throughout the Union. The best way to bring about such a situation is via licensing systems for clubs and via a compulsory register for players’ agents. The sports federations can impose this, but the European Union can certainly be a driving force in this connection. For example, the EU can coordinate activities among the various national supervisory authorities.
A second measure we could take would be to introduce absolute transparency into the financial flows in circulation in the world of players’ agents, as these are the root of most evil at present. We have no knowledge of these shady financial flows, which means that they can continue to use top-class sport for money laundering, on the one hand, and bribery on the other.
A third proposal – which Mrs Pack has already discussed – concerns a ban on remuneration for players’ agents who seek to make money from the transfer of underage players. We should definitely take action on this. We have sufficient instruments at our disposal not only to exert pressure on the professional sports federations to push this through but also to take our own initiatives.
Back in 2007, by a very large majority, this House called on the Commission to take the initiative in the fight against the excrescences in the world of sports agents. This study makes a number of specific suggestions. Although good, they are clearly inadequate. We are pleased to hear you say here that you do indeed intend to move things up a gear. There have been calls for this even within the sector itself; from the European association of players’ agents. We have had a great deal of contact with them, and they themselves are pushing for the European Union to swing into action to root out the rotten apples. I propose that we respond to their calls in the interests of sport and of its extremely important social role."@en1
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