EU Sport Forum 2017
This event is the biggest gathering of stakeholders in the sport sector, with over 350 delegates from EU institutions, Member States, sport organizations and other NGOs participating. This edition was organized by the Maltese presidency on 8-9th of March in St. Julian’s. The main focus was put on grassroots sport, but a number of other issues and currents in the European sport sector, including sessions on good governance and anti-doping was also dealt with.
The Commission’s dedication to use the Forum to engage in a structured dialogue is appreciated, but it is hard to escape the impression that the Olympic movement seems to be a privileged entity claiming to represent sport on many occassions. A wider stakeholder representation and involvement would be more appropriate and surely would benefit the exchanges.
The EU Sport Forum included the networking area, which was a great initiative aiming to foster cooperation between different organizations and EU funded projects around topics of common interest. EU Athletes was there to represent our Erasmus+ Supporting Women Athletes From Europe (SWAFE) project in the “Women in Sport” theme.
More information on the event can be found on the European Commission website: http://ec.europa.eu/sport/events/201700127-eu-sport-forum_en