The National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of Europe gathered in Istanbul, Türkiye where the EOC delivered a successful 52nd General Assembly from 6-7 October 2023. The EOC expresses its thanks to the Turkish Olympic Committee for hosting the General Assembly.

The highlights of the EOC General Assembly are as follows.

General

• Approved the minutes of the 52nd EOC General Assembly.
• Thanked the Turkish Olympic Committee, and its President Prof Dr Ugur Erdener, Vice President Hasan Arat and Secretary General Nese Gundogan for the excellent organisation of the General Assembly in Istanbul.
• Thanked the IOC and its President Thomas Bach for addressing the General Assembly and for its support to the European sports family.
• Congratulated the Organising Committees of the European Games 2023, Winter and Summer European Youth Olympic Festivals (EYOFs) and Games of Small States of Europe for their events and thanked the National Olympic Committees for their commitment to EOC events.
• Approved changes to the constitution which will see:

• For greater clarity, some revision to the terminology
• A reinforcement to the “Objects” for which the EOC is established
• A limit of three consecutive mandates for all members of the Executive Committee
• A more effective way of resolving dispute resolutions
• Introduction of a CEO and coordination of functions with the Secretary General
• Guidelines for a more efficient functioning of what will be called the bureau, in other words the meetings of the 4 Officers or Quadruka, as it is called now
• Some procedural amendments to contribute to streamlining procedures.

EOC reports

• Heard reports from EOC President Spyros Capralos and Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi, who referenced the busy and successful year that the EOC has had with four events, including the third European Games. President Spyros Capralos thanked the Organising Committees of the events, NOCs and all EOC partners for their contributions and noted the financial success of the European Games. President Capralos also looked ahead to 2024 when the Olympic Games return to Europe in Paris.
• Received a report from EOC Treasurer Peter Mennel and approved the 2022/2023 audited Financial Statements, which were audited by Crowe.
• Heard an update from the EOC Strategic Agenda 2030 Working Group Chair Djordje Visacki, detailing the progress that is being made.
• Given comprehensive reports from the Chairs of the EOC Commissions as they detailed the progress that they have made in line with Strategic Agenda 2030, set by the EOC Executive Committee. This included the EOC continuing to lead the Olympic Movement in Gender Equality and Sustainability areas.
• Received a medical report from Klaus Steinbach on the European Games, winter EYOF and summer EYOF, noting that there were no positive doping tests reported.
• Heard the latest progress from the EOC EU Office, noting the increased number of projects being applied for NOCs and funded.

Sports events

• Heard reports from Chair of the EOC European Games Coordination Commission, Mr Hasan Arat, CEO of the Organising Committee, Marcin Nowak and Marshal of the Malopolska region, Witold Kozlowski on the Krakow-Malopolska Games. Listened to four panel discussions on the different aspects of the Games, involving participating athletes, representatives from NOCs and European and International Federations and EOC’s media and broadcast partners.
• Received reports from the Organising Committees of both the Winter and Summer EYOFs in 2023, focusing on the success of both games. Also heard from the Georgian and North Macedonian NOCs ahead of the 2025 editions being held in their countries.
• Welcomed progress updates from delegations representing the Organising Committees of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. There was also an update on preparations for the Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024.

Additional Olympic Movement reports

• IOC Director of Olympic Solidarity, NOC Relations and Olympism365 James Macleod delivered a report on the IOC’s latest work within the European Olympic family. He congratulated the EOC on their busy year of events, implementing the constitution in line with Olympic Agenda 2020+5 and EOC Strategic Agenda 2030, as well as focusing on the International Athletes Forum held in Lausanne.
• ANOC Secretary General Gunilla Lindberg provided an explanation of the ANOC World Beach Games cancellation and the renumeration process for NOCs, as well as an update on the ANOC Sports Directors Seminar and the ANOC Digital Accelerator Programme. EOC ExCo member and Portugal NOC Jose Manuel Araujo gave more information about the ANOC General Assembly in Cascais 2024.

EOC Awards

• Congratulated EOC Ex-officio Executive Committee member Andrzej Kraśnicki, who was awarded the EOC Order of Merit, the organisation’s highest recognition, for his outstanding contribution to the European Olympic Movement and Polish Olympic Committee
• Presented Otto Flum (AUT), Susanna Rahkamo (FIN), Zoltan Molnar (HUN), Carlo Mornati (ITA) and Marijke Fleuren (NED) with their EOC Laurel Awards, while President Alejandro Blanco Bravo collected the Spanish NOC’s IOC Climate Action Awards from IOC President Bach.
• Voted on the winner of the 12^th summer edition of the Piotr Nurowski Prize (PNP) for the Best European Young Athlete. For the first time, the award was shared by two winners with German gymnast Darja Varfolomeev and Turkish swimmer Kuzey Tuncelli. Slovakian judoka Patricia Tomankova came third in the voting, while Mr Kirill Boliukh (UKR) and Sarah Chaari (BEL) finished respectively fourth and fifth.

Next EOC institutional events

The 53^rd EOC General Assembly will be held in Bucharest, Romania between 6 and 7 June 2024, while the 54^th Gene