On 2-3 December 2019, a Special Competence Seminar was organised in Brussels by the EOC EU Office. The aim of this meeting was to inform the partner organisations about recent EU policy developments and to exchange views on ongoing activities. Participants came from various sport federations, such as the European Volleyball Federation (CEV), the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), Rugby Europe, European Athletics, and FIBA Europe, as well as from the NOCs/Sports Confederations of Finland, Sweden, France, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Belgium and from the IOC.
The two-day meeting allowed a comprehensive update on sport-related EU policies and a rich exchange of views on future potential challenges and how to act and respond to them. After the introduction by Folker Hellmund, a roundtable took place where partners shared their experiences on different activities and projects being organised within their organisations.
The roundtable was followed by a presentation on the new EU political framework including new actors and priorities. Furthermore, updates were presented on the European Sport Model, upcoming EU Presidencies and EU funding programmes such as Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps. This policy update ended with an analysis of the 2019 Erasmus+ call (number of projects, budget and differences between the 2018 and 2019 call in terms of funding) and a forecast to the new 2020 Erasmus+ call.
In addition, the EOC EU Office welcomed the participation of Yves Le Lostecque, Head of the Sport Unit at the European Commission, and Agata Dziarnowska, Policy Officer of the Sport Unit at the European Commission, who provided an overview on the third EU Work Plan for Sport and then answered questions raised by the participants.
The second day kicked off with a presentation about the EOC EU Office’s new RINGS project on developing and modernising the strategic management of NOCs in Europe. Participants were then divided into different groups to take part in three parallel sessions where they discussed future priorities and challenges for sport and possible activities allowing the implementation of the priorities of the sport movement.
The seminar concluded with a presentation on some of the Council of Europe’s activities with a special focus on the European Sport Charter and EPAS. The EOC EU Office would like to thank all partners for their active participation in the discussions and encourage them all to apply for the next 2020 Erasmus+ programme!