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The “Developing the European Dimension in Sport” has been identified as the first policy issued by the Commission with concentrating on Sport-related issues after the implementation of the “White Paper”, which gives the EU a mandate to support, coordinate and supplement sport policy measures taken by Member States (European Commission 2011a:2).
The Communication comprises the societal role of sport, the economic dimension of sport, and the organization of sport in the EU region. The current paper is an attempt to analyze the rationale of the policy, political ideologies influencing it, its strengths and weaknesses, and contradictory issues.
The rationale for the policy
The main rationale of the policy is to solve the challenges posed by sports which cannot be addressed by the member states at individual levels.
Assumption
Because there is lack of adequate, accurate, sound, and comparable information and data on sports for the EU member states, assumption on reliability on available data has been made (European Commission 2011: 15).
Related Themes and the societal role of sport
There has been a joint need to fight against doping which has been an important sports threat. In the recent past and even currently, there have been media reports on cases related to use of doping substances by amateurs athletes (European Commission 2011a:4). This poses severe public health hazards and hence the need to fight doping exercise or initiate preventive actions.
In most cases, doping sanctions and doping prevention actions are withheld by the member states and the sports organizations. The new Commission supports the role played by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA), the need to fight against doping, UNESCO, the Council of Europe, National Anti-Doping Organizations (NADOs) and accredited laboratories (European Commission 2011a:4). The Commission is supporting the need by the EU member states to adopt and apply the national anti-doping action plans.
Through Article 16 TFEU, the member states will be in a position to increase their competence and deal with the doping problems. One of the major attributes of the Commission is to encourage EU member states to introduce the provisions contained in the criminal law (European Commission 2011a:4) In addition, the Commission fully supports the formation of transnational anti-doping networks which focuses on preventive measures that target fitness, all sports, and amateur sports.
According to European Commission (2011a:5), “spectator violence and disorder remain a Europe-wide phenomenon and there is a need for a European approach comprising measures designed to reduce the associated risk.” The implication made is that there have been several incidences of spectator violence in Europe and through the policy, the capacity of fighting and preventing intolerance and sports violence will be stepped up.
As a result, the adopted measures will assist in reducing the associated risks as well as providing the citizens with high levels of safety. To prevent other sports indiscipline behaviours, different stakeholders will collaborate with police services, public authorities, sports organizations, and judicial authorities and the supporters’ organizations.
Based on a report by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, intolerances like xenophobia and racism are major threats to the European sports even at the armature levels. Therefore, the new policy encourages different member states to meet these standards. The Commission supports the implementation of activities and mechanisms which would aim at fighting against issues like homophobia, xenophobia, and racism among other intolerance issues in sports (Europa 2011).
Health
Although sport is a leisure activity, obesity and overweight cases remain high in Europe. As a result, there is need for physical activity which positively influences health of individual in the modern society and can be used with the aim reducing obesity and the overweight cases and related diseases. Basically, sports have been regarded as a major factor that improves the health welfare of people in the society (Europa 2011).
The EU physical policy guidelines endorsed in 2008 by the EU sports minster, recommend on how the practices and the policies can be carried at EU, national and even at the local levels. This would promote sports to be part of physical activity and at the same time be a leisure activity.
From a health perspective, physical activity and health are closely interrelated in such a way that the White Paper of 2007 considers them in the “Strategy for Europe in Nutrition, Obesity and Overweight” and other health-related problem (European Commission 2011a:6). To show the correlation, several countries have been on the verge of implementing the aforementioned strategy to be part of their physical activity with the aim of improving health.
The policy would ensure that the large gap in sports and physical activity is reduced with the physical activities being incorporated in different levels by different stakeholders. The Commission has supported transnational networks and projects carried with the aim of enhancing heath through physical activity like sports (Europa 2011).
Social inclusion
The potential derived from sports as a result of social inclusion and equal opportunities is not well or sufficiently implemented in EU and national levels, hence its need through the Communication. According to the UN Convention on the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which EU and its member states are signatory, people with disabilities and living among ourselves have the right to fully or partially participate in sporting activities on equal basis (European Commission 2011a:6).
The EU and the member states, therefore, have an obligation to ensure that the rights are not abused and are effectively implemented and operational. For a long time, women have been under-represented in some sports areas. However, in respect to the “Strategy for Equality between Women and Men 2010-2015, the Commission will encourage the mainstreaming of gender issues into sport-related activities” (European Commission 2011a:6).
This will ensure gender parity in sports representation in the EU region and its member states. Europe is a multilingual society which is majorly necessitated by the increase in the number of immigrants in the region. Through sports, the host society and the immigrants can easily interact positively, thus furthering intercultural dialogue and integration at national and international levels.
Subsequently, sports can be used to enhance social inclusion of social minorities as well as other disadvantaged or vulnerable groups, thus contributing to better understanding among different communities and ethnic groups (Europa 2011). The commission advocates for the inclusion of women in leadership options in sports.
This could be achieved through the establishment of networks which promotes women access to participate in sports leadership. Also, through transnational projects, social integration of the disadvantaged groups and the vulnerable would enhance social inclusion.
Economic development and regeneration
Sports have been regarded as one of the largest and fast-growing sectors of the economy. As a result, the sector contributes largely in economic growth, creation of jobs, and employment, among other related economic activities. Statistics show that currently, 2% of the global GDP is part of the sports sector since sports are major part of tourism in Europe (European Commission 2011a:8).
The Commission supports the full compliance with the European Union competition laws and the Internal Markets rules as well as protection of revenue sourcing avenues from the sports sector. Media rights should be sponsored with the idea that different states have different rules and media laws which have to be respected.
Given that sports have become one of the significant employment sustaining ventures in the world, EU funds could be used to develop projects and activities that sustain the sports structures and industry (Europa 2011).
For example, activities like urban regeneration, employability, labor market integration, and rural development could be carried in solidarity among the member states. The Commission ensures that issues related to intellectual property in sports coverage are put into consideration while implementing the Digital Agenda Initiative (European Commission 2011).
Political ideologies influencing the policy or issues
The political ideology behind the adoption of the policy is to empower EU with the mandate of coordinating and regulating sports in Europe. According to de Coubertin (2008), there is need for cooperation among the member states in Europe. As a result, the EU member states would strengthen political cooperation on sports where resources will be shared equally among the member states. In addition, reinforcement of rolling agenda and common priorities in sports would be achieved.
As noted in the Communication policy paper, there are some challenges facing sports in Europe which cannot be addressed and handled by the member states individually.
For instance, issues related to doping which threatens moral and physical integrity of sportsmen and women, health-related issues because of low or limited physical activity, social exclusion of physically disadvantaged persons and untapped potential in sports, inadequate protection of IPRS (intellectual property rights), sports discriminations on the basis of nationality, lack of legal clarity on EU law application and lack of adequate information on EU member states (Europa 2011).
From a political point of view, these challenges cannot be handled from a member state position hence the need for the formulation and the adoption of the policy which would address these challenges. Therefore, the identified issues can be addressed adequately at EU level since the issues are transnational (Europa 2011).
There exists a discrepancy among EU member states, especially in the sports sector. As a result, the Commission has seen the need to adopt the Communication that will help achieve European added value “through the identification and dissemination of good practices and support networking” (Europa 2011).
The EU will have the mandate of increasing the impact of the national action in the sports area. This would form a link that would connect different stakeholders in the sports sector and allow exchange of ideas among member states and other interested parties. In addition, the Communication will increase cooperation among sports stakeholders which was in non-existence (Europa 2011). As a result, disparities in sports among the member states will be partially if not fully addressed.
Governance, especially in sports, is based on self-regulation and autonomy of sports organizations (European Commission 2011a:10). Absence of a single model of governance across the EU sports and member states, the Commission sees the opportunity to have an autonomous inception of governance at the European level.
Good governance and accountability in sports can be achieved upon the address of the identified challenges facing the EU member states. In other words, “good governance in sport is a condition for addressing challenges regarding sport and the EU legal framework” (European Commission 2011a:10).
Implication on citizenship, rights, needs and the role of the state
The state will have a limited role to play as the EU Commission will carry most of the activities on behalf of the member states. However, the member states will retain their full competence in sports and the EU law on sports will not act as a substitute to the role played by the member states (Europa 2011).
In respect to TV rights, the Commission proposes adoption of regulations that would ensure financial solidarity and redistribution of TV rights among member states. This means that the state autonomy will be slated thus having less control over its TV rights financial gain. The new Communication will play majority of the roles on behalf of the member states. Issues related to citizenship, employment, justice, and home affairs will be largely dealt not at national but at EU level. This implies that the role played in-state will somehow be reduced.
The available Treaty “prohibits discrimination based on nationality and enshrines the principle of free movement” (European Commission 2011a:11). The treaty preserves the issues of nationality in regard to sports and has reaffirmed free movement of a professional player, their rights, and movement of workers.
Lastly, the policy advocates for the inclusion of women in leadership positions as a way of reducing the discrepancy that has been in existence. This has been aligned with the UN Convention on Rights of persons with disabilities who are also considered to have right in sports.
Strengths and weaknesses of the policy
One of the major strengths of the policy, is that efforts and resources from different EU member states have been pooled together to promote sports and leisure. For example, the Commission and the member states will develop and implement security safety requirements and arrangements for events at international levels.
In addition, peer review projects and pan-European training projects for police offers will be enhanced, thus reducing spectator violence at international levels. The resources will also be used to fight against drugs and doping practices among the athletes’ amateurs. Through the Commission, it will aid examine the most appropriate method that can be used to reinforce measures that would be used against the long chain of doping substances, and if possible supported by the criminal law.
Consultations were made on the member states of EU by the Commission while preparing the Communication (Europa 2011) thus getting consensus on what laws to implement and not (European Commission 2011). As a result, some topics such as inclusion of societal inclusion, health-enhancing physical activities, and good governance among others have been considered at the EU level.
Through the Communication, different stakeholders and players such as all the member states public authorities, International Olympics Committees, Leagues, International Sports Federations, International And European Organizations, which include UNESCO, WADA, WHO, and Council of Europe will be brought together thus promoting sports (Europa 2011). Other players included are citizens in general, sports support staff, volunteers, and other education sport-related organizations, such as sporting goods, and media.
The inclusion of these target groups will promote sports and leisure at national and EU levels. The monitoring and evaluation of the policy will incorporate different stakeholders. According to the report presented by the European Commission (2011:38), the Commission will continue having dialogue with expert practitioners and both private and public stakeholders.
Others who will be consulted and engaged in the monitoring and evaluation process are the Committee on Regions and European Economic and Social Committee, the European Parliament, and the European Council. The Communication is planning to set adequate time frame that will be used by the different bodies to exchange views and receive feedback on any changes from sports representatives. The inclusivity of varying member groups and stakeholders will ensure full monitoring and evaluation of the Communication.
Through social inclusion and equal opportunities, the Communication promotes the UN Convention on the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the European Commission 2011). The policy aims at promoting physical and moral integrity of sportspeople among the EU member states. As a result, the Member states and the Commission will be able to join forces and fight against social behaviours such doping which is repugnant in athlete sports. As result policies and actions will enhance moral and physical integrity.
Weaknesses
One of the major weaknesses is the credibility and the reliability of the data and information collected and used in developing the policy. According to the European Commission (2011:15), there is scarcity of data and information on sport for the European member states which discredits the degree of soundness, accuracy, and comparability of the data. As a result, the Commission has been developing the policy based on assumptions.
The Communication interferes with sports autonomy through some of the practices and policies it is planning to put into place. Given that the EU Commission will have the mandate to “carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement the actions of the member states” (Cash 2011), the Member States will lack their exclusive competence as the Union will provide all the coordination which will cause interference through the direction of the British sports policy (Cash 2011).
The policy lacks solutions to some of identified issues like doping of substances and trade of doping substances through organized networks. The Commission has only proposed the likelihood of including reinforcing measures which could adopt the criminal law. The proposal by the Commission leaves a gap as it is not clear whether criminal sanctions would be adopted for doping in sports or what action actions would be taken on the same.
Another issue that has been interfered by the Commission is in regard to sports media, media rights, and intellectual property rights. Notably, television rights have been the primary source of income in reference to professional sports like football (Europa 2011). Under the Commission provisions, it has been suggested that “the commercial exploitation of professional sport should be accompanied by strong redistribution and solidarity mechanisms” (Cash 2011) which would be achieved through the proposed collective media rights which will lead to financial solidarity and redistribution within sports in the region (Cash 2011).
In addition, the Commission plans to strengthen mechanisms which will strengthen financial solidarity through collective selling of media rights. It is of essence to note that issues like selling of media rights or TV rights remain to be domestic issues which should not be interfered by the EU instead, the Premier League is entitled the obligation to decide on the procedure to use while selling its TV rights in the UK.
Contradictory elements
The application of the EU laws to sport, Competition provision, and Internal Market has raised concerns from the stakeholders (Europa 2011). According to the sports stakeholders, the certainty of the European law on sports is not clear especially in regard to the treaty provisions on issues like amateur sports, value-added tax, and free movement of workers, state aid, and antitrust laws.
Generally, treaties prohibit discrimination as a result of nationality and advocates for free movement of workers. In the past, the European Court of Justice has had given rulings on issues related to players date transfer, recruitment and the compensation of players, and the composition of the national teams among other sports-related issues (European Commission 2011a:14). Accordingly, the free movement laws are not applied on professional players as this is covered under the TFEU.
This contradicts the functionality of Treaties which allows free movement of all workers, which is inclusive of professional players. In addition, there are reports that issues related to the access to sports competitions and activities in some EU member states hence need for clarity. Again, this contradicts the EU laws on sports as the new policy has the mandate to coordinate, support and supplement actions of member states where issues like restrictions to access to sports competition have not been addressed. According to the European
Commission (2011a:11), rules concerned with direct discrimination have been found to be not compatible to the EU law. This raises a contradictory issue as the Commission has not identified solution or how the EU law can include or solve the issue of direct discrimination on professional sport.
Reference List
Cash, B 2011, Brussels set to interfere on sports autonomy. Web.
de Coubertin P 2008, Appendix: The Pierre de Coubertin Action Plan. Web.
Europa 2011, Commission staff working document impact assessment accompanying document to the communication from the commission to the European parliament, the council, the European economic and social committee and the committee of the regions developing the European Dimension in Sport /* SEC/2011/0067final */. Web.
European Commission 2011a, Communication from the commission to the European parliament, the council, the European economic and social committee and the committee of the regions: Developing the European dimension in sport, European Commission. Web.
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