On the 2-3rd of May, EU Sport Forum, organised by the European Commission and the Swedish Presidency took place in Stockholm. The Forum is a key event for the stakeholders in the sport sector, gathering over 400 participants for the 2023 edition. This year’s edition focused on topics such as good governance, integrity and sustainability of sport.
Paulina Tomczyk, the General Secretary of EU Athletes, represented the organised athletes in the panel discussion ‘Good governance and athlete rights’. She emphasised the importance of freedom of association for the athletes, not only in the context of forming and joining athlete associations, but also sport organisations and governments engaging with those bodies when it comes to decision making in sport.
‘Without athletes there is no sport. Collectively, athletes have a huge power of change. They can reform the sport governance into the system compatible with good governance. The goal is to have an equal partnership and cooperation between athlete and sport organisation, with decision making based on social dialogue and collective negotiations, with respect the rights of athletes and all stakeholders’ – said Paulina during her intervention.