The Hague, 2 September 2010

For the ninth consecutive time we have the pleasure of inviting you to the Asser-Clingendael International Sports Lecture, which was initiated in 2001 and since then has developed into an ongoing tradition.

This year’s theme will be:
‘The Lisbon Treaty and EU Sports Policy: New Possibilities for EU Action?’

With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in December 2009, the European Union (EU) acquired a specific competence in the field of sport for the first time. Sport is mentioned in Article 6 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), as one of the policy fields where the Union has competence to support, coordinate or supplement the actions of its Member States.

The ‘new’ Article 165 TFEU sets out the details of sports policy. It states that the “Union shall contribute to the promotion of European sporting issues, while taking account of the specific nature of sport, its structures based on voluntary activity and its social and educational function”. More specifically, the objectives of sports policy are described as being to:


(1)   promote fairness and openness in sporting competitions and cooperation between bodies responsible for sports and

(2)   protect the physical and moral integrity of sports practitioners, especially the youngest among them.

The existence of a new specific competence is expected to open up new possibilities for EU action in the field of sport. However, EU competences over the Single Market have already had a considerable impact on sport and these will remain as important as ever. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has over the years developed extensive and important case law that has had major implications on the world of sport. At the same time, the EU has already had an influence on sport in exercising its “soft law” powers in closely related areas such as education, health and social inclusion via its respective funding programmes.

Moreover, the lack of a specific legal competence has not prevented the European Commission from building up the beginnings of an EU sports policy, as outlined in the 2007 White Paper on Sport and its associated “Baron de Coubertin Action Plan”, which began to be implemented in 2009. The Commission has also directly financed certain sporting projects under the sports ‘preparatory action’ in 2009.

The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty has spurred the Commission to begin work on a proposal for a fully-fledged EU sports programme and on a policy communication on sport and the Lisbon Treaty. These two items are expected to be sent to the European Parliament for consideration in the second half of 2010. As part of its preparations, the Commission asked stakeholders for views on what the EU’s priorities for sport should be.

In light of the above, in May 2010 the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) commissioned a study to the T.M.C. Asser Institute the object of which is to provide a panorama of the possibilities of EU Sports Policy at a time when these are being reviewed after the approval of the Lisbon Treaty. In particular, it should assess, from a legal point of view, the potential of the new TFEU to enable the EU to attain the objectives of greater fairness and openness in sporting competitions and greater protection of the moral and physical integrity of sports practitioners while taking account of the specific nature of sport. Given the forward-looking nature of the brief, the literature and legal review should only constitute a starting point to be complemented by direct information-gathering and discussion with parties interested in the development of EU Sports Policy, including sports associations or clubs at both professional and amateur level, pan-European umbrella organizations representing sport, national and EU civil servants, the private sector and academics.

The Lecture will be held on Wednesday 6 October 2010 at the Clingendael Institute in The Hague and will be chaired by Dr Robert Siekmann, Director of the ASSER International Sports Law Centre and Professor in International and European Sports Law at the Faculty of Law of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

We are very pleased that the following distinguished guest lecturers who are co-authors of the EP-commissioned study on the Lisbon Treaty and EU Sports Policy, have accepted our invitation to contribute to the programme:

Prof. Dr Stephen Weatherill, Jacques Delors Professor of European Law, Somerville College and Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, will speak on “Fairness, openness and the specific nature of sport: does the Lisbon Treaty change EU sports law?”;

Prof. Dr Richard Parrish, Professor of sports law and Director of the Centre for Sports Law Research at Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, United Kingdom, He is the author of “Sports Law and Policy in the European Union” (2003) and (with Samuli Miettinen) of “The
Sporting Exception in European Union Law”(2008). Prof. Parrish is the Honorary Chair of the International Association for the Study of Sport and the European Union (Sport & EU); he will speak on the legal assessment within the framework of the EP-commissioned study;

Dr Borja Garcia Garcia, Lecturer in Sport Management and Policy in the School of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences, at the Department of Politics, International Relations and European Studies, Loughborough University, United Kingdom. His doctoral research concerned “The European Union and the Governance of Football: A Game of Levels and Agendas” (2008). Dr Garcia Garcia is one of the founding members of Sport & EU; he will speak on the results of the stakeholders’ consultation.

Mr Toine Manders, Member of the European Parliament for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), will give his opinion on what the EU’s priorities for sport should be.

In addition, representatives of stakeholders organisations are invited to attend the Lecture and present their opinions on what the EU’s priorities for sport should be.
Complimentary copies of the EP-commissioned Study which is due to be published by the European Parliament, will be available for the participants of the Lecture.

Guests are welcome from 14.00 hours onwards. For further details please see the enclosed programme.

Registration can be sent by e-mail to the External Affairs Office of the Clingendael Institute, attn. Mrs. Carla Veltkamp (e-mail: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>).

We look forward to welcoming you on 6 October at the “Huys Clingendael”.


Prof. Dr Frans A. Nelissen                                         Prof. Dr Jaap W. de Zwaan
Director T.M.C. Asser Institute                                  Director Clingendael Institute


Mrs. Carla Veltkamp
External Affairs Office (tue/wed/thurs)
The Clingendael Institute
Tel: +31 (0)70 3746633
Fax: +31 (0)70 3282002
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
www.clingendael.nl


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Sport&EU, The Association for the Study of Sport and the European Union can be found at
http://www.sportandeu.com