EU SPORT FORUM
As an event that is organised yearly, the European Union Sport Forum is a great
occasion for celebrating European sport and remains one of the main platforms for
dialogue between the European Commission and other key sport stakeholders.
The European Commission
and the Swedish Presidency
of the Council of the European
Union prepared the traditional
EU Sport Forum, hosted in the
Swedish capital on May 2 and
3, 2023.
In 2023, the EU Sport Forum
aimed to discuss some of the
most topical issues in the sport
sector, with a particular focus on
integrity, good governance, and
gender equality, sustainability
of major sporting events, the
importance of sport for physical
and mental health, as well as
how to best support athletes in
the development of skills and
qualifications during and after
their sport careers. Several key
organisations and bodies were
present in Stockholm, including
representatives of the European
University Sports Association
(EUSA) and its Institute.
The event started with a
welcome speech via video
address by Mariya Gabriel, EU
Commissioner for Innovation,
Research, Culture, Education
and Youth; followed by Jakob
Forssmed, Minister for Social
Affairs and Health, representing
the Swedish Presidency; and
Tomasz Frankowski, Member of
the European Parliament and
Co-chair of European Parliament
Sport group.Following the initial welcomes,
the first keynote speeches were
made on one of the European
flagship sports event, UEFA Euro
2024, highlighting the plans of
having the event as celebration
of European community of
values, including sustainability,
smarter planning, and the of
cultural, social and other content
alongside the sports event.Another keynote set of speeches
was present at the EU Sport
Forum, given by Maja Poljak
from Croatia and Cédric Van
Branteghem, from Belgium,
sharing their dual career stories
and experiences in sport and a
set of parallel sessions offering
two sets of topics.A high-level panel discussion
focused on Women in sport:
from grassroots to leadership,
with important stakeholders
as speakers, discussing several
strategies on European, national
and organisational levels, as well
as good practice initiatives were
presented and discussed, was
one of the important moments
at the forum. Good governance,
fighting challenges in sport and
promoting anti-doping, anti-corruption, anti-manipulation,
anti-match fixing, anti-
harassment, anti-abuse – and
integrity, transparency, ethics,
safeguarding, accountability,
consequences, prosecution, as
well as education, prevention,
support and other actions were
presented in another great panel
discussion.One of the highlights of the first
day was the #BeInclusive EU
Sport Awards ceremony, where
almost 100 amazing projects
and individuals were part of the
competition launched in 2022.Throughout the event, parallel
sessions covered topics, such
as: Physical Activity Policy for
a Better Health, Organising
sustainable sport events in
Europe and Sport skills, a
lifelong competence, All able,
all included: participation in
sport and society, the panellists
discussed the aspect of inclusion
of people with disabilities;
SHARE initiative focused on
European funding opportunities
related to sport beyond
Erasmus+; and European Week
of Sport and the #BeActive
and #HealthyLifestyle4All
campaigns, Good governance
and athletes’ rights and
Innovative youth voices in sport.The second day of the fully
packed program of the EU
Sport Forum included keynote
speeches by Maja Poljak
from Croatia and Cédric Van
Branteghem, from Belgium,
sharing their dual career stories
and experiences in sport, and a
set of parallel sessions offering
two sets of topics.EUSA was represented at
the event by Andrej Pisl,
Communications and Projects
Manager, who was also one of
the facilitators of one of the
parallel sessions of the EUSA-
nominated delegates, Marianna
Pikul, also attended the event.The event continued with a
plenary session with an update
on the European Commission’s
initiatives on sport & Erasmus+
and it was concluded with short
reports of all parallel sessions
over the 2-day event, and the
closing remarks by Viviane
Hoffmann, Deputy Director-
General for Education, Youth,
Sport and Culture (DG EAC) of
the European Commission.112 / 113
PLEASE SEE
sport.ec.europa.eu/initiatives/
eu-sport-forum
for more information