Rome, May 31, 2016 – The EOC is grateful for and has reviewed the letter sent by our colleagues, the Presidents of European Athletics and LEN (European Aquatics), which was received by the EOC on 26 May and which also copied in the other participating European Federations in the European Sports Championships.
Whilst we continue, as always, to work in a positive and constructive way with our European Federation friends, we want to ensure the removal of the restrictive clause in the proposed contract issued to the European Federations by the European Sports Championship Management (ESCM). ESCM is a private commercial body based in Switzerland and made up of three non-elected directors whose purpose is to maximise profits for the European Sports Championships.
For the avoidance of doubt and in order to be completely transparent, this clause, proposed by ESCM, is stated below:
3.3.2 EF shall not enter into any agreement for the integration of the Event and/or any other official EF competition requiring the participation of national federations and elite athletes in any other multisport event during the term of this Agreement and until one (1) year after the end of ESC 2018 subject to Clause 13.5.
Furthermore, Clause 13.5 of the contract stipulates that if ESCM proposes a host city to the European Federations for 2022 on similar terms to the current agreement then the European Federations shall be contractually bound not to compete in any other multi-sport event for the years 2022 and 2023.
The EOC has always sought to represent the best interests of our partners, the European Federations, and has made repeated requests for ESCM to drop clause 3.3.2 as it is in breach of the Olympic Charter, Olympic Agenda 2020 and EU Competition Law. However it appears that this clause still remains in a number of the ESCM proposed contracts.
Our position is more than just protecting the integrity of EOC properties such as the European Games and the European Youth Olympic Festival; our stance is taken to ensure that new commercial entities cannot be allowed to erode the longstanding right of Olympic Movement stakeholders to stage their own established events.
The EOC will now continue the dialogue with our partners and the other stakeholders of the European Sports Championships in the hope that this matter can be resolved in a timely manner and that all sides can continue their preparations for their respective events.