Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-01-Speech-3-295-000"
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"en.20120201.18.3-295-000"2
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"Mr President, there is no doubt that sport has an important place in Europe. Not only does it generate billions of euros and many thousands of jobs, but it also provides health and joy to millions. I am passionate about sport myself.
Under the Treaty of Lisbon, Parliament’s new supporting competence in sport should have provided it with the opportunity to explore ways the EU could help grassroots sport through volunteering initiatives and community sports development etc., but sadly this report misses the opportunity. It has turned into a matter of how the EU can take advantage of the popularity of professional sport – what sport can do for the EU instead of what the EU can do for sport.
The report focuses mainly on professional football. It takes little account of minority or grassroots sport – where I believe the focus should have been. The EU can have a role in influencing some aspects of sport – the fight against doping and cross-border gambling etc., but the report goes much too far in calling for the EU itself, rather than individual Member States, to sign up to WADA and to doping conventions.
The report also ignores the limits of EU power by proposing special tax regimes and impinging on the right of Member States to decide on their educational curricula, and touches on social security provisions. All of these are in the realm of the Member State and not of the EU. But most damaging is the attempt to make national sports teams wear the EU flag on their shirts and to fly the EU flag at all sporting events. At first this was compulsory and now it is voluntary, but the proposal to have the EU flag on national teams is still outrageous and unnecessary.
Sport has a very special place in the United Kingdom, and our national sports teams form a key part of our identities and our heritage. The EU is trying to impose an artificial European identity on us by forcing our athletes to wear its emblem. Does this add value to sport? No it does not. It is simply an attempt to add value to the EU itself.
It is for these reasons, amongst others, that I will be unable to vote in favour of this report tomorrow."@en1
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