EU fighting corruption in sports

EU parliament calls for fight against corruption [additional information and links available in original article]

A written declaration signed by 400 members of the European Parliament urges the European Commission to take the lead in the fight against corruption in sport.

By Ditte Toft, Stine Alvad

A written declaration signed by 400 members of the European Parliament urges the European Commission to take the lead in the fight against corruption in sport.

The European Commission must, together with EU member states, co-ordinate a comprehensive study of corruption cases in European sport and clarify the relationship between organized crime, gambling and match-fixing.

This is a few of the requirements coming from 400 members of Parliament who have all signed a Declaration on combating corruption in European sport.

At the same time the MPs urge the Commission to regulate internet gaming through rules for approved operators and measures to combat collusion, in order to continue to provide income for grassroots sport in the EU countries.

With the declaration the MPs voice their opinion in relation to the discussion raised by the Commission itself with the so-called 'Green Paper' on online gaming launched in March this year.

The Commission’s 'Green Paper' calls for a detailed discussion on how to balance a liberalized gaming market with necessary precautions in the shape of consumer protection, the fight against crime and illegal betting and channelling money from gaming to charitable purposes such as grassroots sport.

The declaration from the MPs points out that the European White Paper on Sport states that corruption at European level should also be tackled at European level. The Lisbon Treaty makes it possible to do so.

”This issue has to be tackled in the European level because the problem exists not only in one or two member states, but in many European countries. In my own country we had big problems with corruption in football. Now with the Lisbon Treaty we can do something more about it,” says Polish Tadeusz Zwiefka, one of the four MPs behind the declaration.