ene.26.2009
IOC president Jacques Rogge is meeting with European Union sports commissioner Jan Figel today to discuss, among other topics, stopping European governments interfering in the affairs of NOCs.
The Around the Rings website reports that promoting and protecting the autonomy of the Olympic and sports movement has become an issue of increasing importance for the IOC in recent years.
Around the Rings describes the meeting as an attempt to step up lobbying on sports issues at the European Parliament.
The full agenda for the meeting lists topics for discussion as: the specificity and autonomy of sport, financing of sport and betting, the application of EU competition law and of free movement principles in the field of sport, and the fight against doping.
Around the Rings quotes IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau as saying, “The aim of the meeting is to follow up on the action points specified in the recent European Council Declaration on Sport, which was presented in the conclusions of the French presidency of the EU mid-December.
“In the declaration, the heads of states call on the European Commission to strengthen its dialogue with the IOC, besides underlining the values of sport and its specific characteristics above its economic dimension.”
Also present at the meeting will be Denis Oswald, president of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations; Rene Fasel, president of the Association of International Olympic Winter Federations; FIFA president Sepp Blatter; and Patrick Baumann, representing the General Association of International Sports Federations.