Call for clear orientation

UEFA has joined forces with the European governing bodies of basketball, handball, volleyball and ice hockey to ask for a clear political orientation in favour of European sport.

'Expectations'

'Optimism'
"All of this, together with many encouraging declarations, had created a certain optimism - a hope that current problems and the related threats to the future of European sport had been well understood and there was a clear will from the European Commission to propose concrete solutions. Such solutions would put an end to the present dangerous legal confusion and would lead to a regulatory framework which enhanced the further development of European sport at all levels.

'Timid attitude'
"We have been able to read a draft of the White Paper and the principal reaction is one of deep disappointment. We have discovered a lengthy document that simply describes the current situation but unfortunately adopts a very timid and indecisive attitude towards the key issues. The draft addresses neither the autonomy of sport, nor implementing legal stability in sport, nor any co-operation in addressing criminal issues in society which may find expression through sport.

Clear orientation needed
"What European sport urgently needs is a clear political orientation that will lead to a well-defined legal and policy framework for all sport activities throughout our continent. As a basis for this approach, the Commission should follow the appropriate EU texts. In this respect, and after the rejection of the proposed European Constitution with the treaty article on sport, the only text that has been approved by the European heads of states or governments is the Nice Declaration on the Specificity of Sport. This should serve as the guideline for the Commission, which should now work on ways to implement it - not on ways to review or circumvent it.

Wrong approach
"The proposed draft of the White Paper indeed initially refers to the Nice Declaration. However, it then goes on to ignore it and, in some respects, takes the opposite direction. We consider that the European Commission has a duty to take into account the Nice Declaration - the will of Europe's elected leaders - and work towards its implementation. This year's European Parliament Report on Professional Football [Belet Report] further supports this view. Instead, the White Paper, as it stands, maintains that each and every sports rule can only be judged on a case-by-case basis by EU judges - and leaves the European Courts to make the law rather than interpret it."