European Commission to look at sports governance

Following the scandals surrounding FIFA and the IAAF, the European Commission will be inviting all sporting federations on the continent to commit to a criteria for good governance standards.

Speaking at the EU Sport Forum, Tibor Navracsics, commissioner for education, culture, youth and sport at the European Commission, said that he would launch the initiative during the European Week of Sport in September.

Navracsics said that the Commission was launching a working group on good governance. During the Forum, a panel, of which Navracsics was a part, agreed that national governments hold the balance of power when it comes to reforms but that the Commission would be placing greater scrutiny of the governance structures within federations.

Jen Sejer Andersen, international director of Play the Game, the anti-corruption body added, “It’s high time for governments to act, and the European Union is a good framework for such action”.

The interest shown by the European Commission in governance is also reflected in the work currently ongoing in the UK to implement the new Government sport strategy, notably to develop a new UK Sports Governance Code which will apply to all sports bodies in receipt of public funding.

Commenting from the EU Sport Forum, Leigh Thompson, Policy Adviser at the Sport and Recreation Alliance said, “The announcement by Commissioner Navrascics, that federations will be asked make a public pledge on good governance, is a recognition that sports governance is now firmly on the European Commission's radar. We will need to wait and see what the pledge involves but it’s likely this marks the beginning of a more active role by the Commission in these issues.”

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