12th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for Sport

Belgrade, Serbia, 15 March 2012

Speech by President Keith Whitmore, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Council of Europe

Deputy Prime Minister,

Deputy Secretary General,

Ministers,

Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great honour for me to speak to you today because the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe lays great store by sport as a means of promoting not only a healthy lifestyle but also understanding and solidarity between European citizens.

In our increasingly multicultural and multiethnic societies, sport can be an answer to the challenge of how to achieve closer integration. Engaging in sporting activities with our fellow citizens helps us to bring down barriers, and awakens a sense of belonging, a spirit of community-mindedness. By playing in the same team as “the other”, we can get to know better our neighbour who has different origins, cultures or religious beliefs. Sport helps people to feel part of a community, to promote intercultural dialogue and thus to combat the racism, intolerance and xenophobia that is increasingly prevalent in today’s society.

In this way, ladies and gentlemen, sport makes a valuable contribution to the democratic process, to living together in 21st-century Europe, if I were to echo the report of the Group of Eminent Persons prepared at the request of the Council of Europe Secretary General. We are convinced that local and regional authorities have a major role to play in this process, in making the best of sport as a tool for community-building. There is indeed a number of areas where their efforts complement and enhance national action in the field of sport.

In 2004, for example, the Congress addressed the specific role of local and regional authorities in preventing violence in sport, as our contribution to the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Spectator Violence. The Congress supports the draft resolution on strengthening the Convention’s monitoring capacities, which is on your agenda today.  I would like to underline in particular the importance of co-operation between national and grassroots authorities in the practical application of this instrument.

In 2008, the Congress adopted a resolution on integration through sport which actively encourages municipalities to support any policy that aims to make sport more accessible to as many people as possible, irrespective of age, gender, religious or social background. We underlined the important role of local and regional authorities in promoting the practice of sports and in creating the necessary conditions for equal access to sports facilities. This text dovetails with the ongoing drafting process carried out by the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport on gender-mainstreaming. This is another area where national governments and local and regional authorities can join forces to ensure that policies and measures for gender equality in sport take root at the level of our communities.

In our recommendation on integration through sport, addressed to national governments, we also pointed to the role of refereeing as an essential aspect of good practice in sport. We stressed that enhancing the competences of referees through proper training would serve as a guarantee of due respect of sports participants. This is of particular importance as we speak about match-fixing and other manipulations of sports results, which is a central theme of today’s Conference. Good governance and ethics in sport in general is yet another area for co-operation and joint action between the national and grassroots authorities. I should stress in this regard that the fight against corruption in our societies – and corruption in sport is certainly part of it – has been identified as one area for the Agenda in Common between national governments and local and regional authorities at the Conference of Ministers responsible for local and regional governments, in Kyiv in November last year.

We therefore support the proposals for your discussions today aimed at applying the principles of good governance and ethics in sport, which will contribute significantly to eradicating corruption. The Congress is convinced that dialogue and co-operation among public authorities at all levels of government is essential in seeking effective common responses to challenges posed by this problem. A good example of such co-operation is the successful implementation of the Convention on Spectator Violence; as a result, the number of violent incidents at stadiums – which are, of course, run by local authorities - decreased significantly. Given this success, we also support the proposal of drawing up a convention or an international binding instrument against match-fixing and illegal betting, which, I am convinced, will yield similar positive results in the domain of sport ethics.

Ladies and Gentlemen,  

Sport is a crucial factor in building a Europe where we all can live together in dignity, an ideal means of promoting social integration, fostering mutual understanding and fighting exclusion. This is why we in the Congress support efforts to develop a common framework for sport in Europe, based on the notions of pluralist democracy, the rule of law, human rights and ethical principles. Both national and grassroots action to promote sport must be an integral part of this framework.

Local and regional authorities are already playing a major role in developing sports infrastructures and providing sports facilities in their communities, supporting sports clubs and associations, opening sports schools and organising events to involve citizens in local life and bring them together around sporting activities.

I am pleased to say that one such major sporting event is being organised this year in my home country, the United Kingdom, which is currently chairing the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. I am speaking of course about the Summer Olympics of 2012 in London, an event which will indeed bring together the entire world. Organising and holding the Olympic Games is a very challenging task for both national and local authorities, and I wish the UK government and the City of London much success in seeing it through.

The grassroots level is indeed a source of many good initiatives in the field of sport. For example, we in the Congress were very interested to learn about the Barcelona Council’s project to develop a European Day of Sport whereby villages, towns and cities across Europe will put their sports amenities at the disposal of all of our citizens for one day.  Thanks to this project, everyone, irrespective of her or his age, social situation, ethnic or cultural origin, will be given the opportunity to discover new physical activities and pastimes, the opportunity to come together, in play, with their neighbours and fellow citizens. The Congress can but support this proposal, which was also favoured by the EU Committee of the Regions and which, I am sure, you will find interesting too, and may consider endorsing. It could be a partnership project between the Council of Europe and the European Union.

I would like to conclude by stressing once again that sport is an integral part of the life of the neighbourhoods in which we live, which enables all citizens to be actively engaged in their community. One can also argue that participating in sporting activities teaches citizens the very foundation of a democratic society by highlighting the need to respect rules. Corruption in sport blows in the face of this notion of fair play, which is why the subject of this Conference today is so important. I would like to thank the organisers, the Serbian authorities, for this initiative and this opportunity to share the position of the Congress with you today.

I wish you fruitful discussions and a very successful conference.

Thank you.