The European Olympic Committees (EOC) Executive Committee (ExCo) met in Istanbul, Türkiye on 5 October 2023 ahead of the 52^nd EOC General Assembly (GA), which takes place on 6-7 October. The highlights of the ExCo meeting are as follows.

Report of EOC President Spyros Capralos

• Expressed his delight at being in Istanbul and Türkiye for the 52nd EOC General Assembly and his gratitude to Turkish Olympic Committee President Prof Uğur Erdener, Vice President Hasan Arat and Secretary General Nese Gundogan for hosting the EOC
• Noted the impressive attendance at the General Assembly with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, 11 IOC Members, 41 Presidents from the National Olympic Committee and 19 International and European Federations
• Commented that he believes the European Olympic family is in a strong place and thanked the EOC Executive Committee and the Head Office for their hard work during a busy year
• Looked ahead to the General Assembly and the new format, noting IOC President Bach’s speech and the section on the European Games on the second day
• Confirmed that all 50 European NOCs were invited to the GA, including NOCs of Russia and Belarus (only Belarus attended online) and reiterated support of Ukrainian athletes during qualification process for Olympic Games
• Paid tribute to Andrzej Krasnicki, Ex-Officio Member of the ExCo and former Polish NOC president and Coordination Commission Chair Hasan Arat for their roles in the European Games
• Reflected on Poland’s expression of interest in hosting the Olympic Games in 2036 as a clear sign of the legacy of the European Games, noting the financial success of them
• Labelled the Summer European Youth Olympic Festival Maribor 2023 as a great success and one of the best EYOFs held with a high level of sport
• Announced the establishment of a new award named after former EOC President Janez Kocijančič, which will be presented to the best athlete of the European Games

Report of EOC Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi

• Highlighted the important vote on constitutional changes at the GA to support with governance recommendations
• Commented the Athletes’ Forum will take place in Rome on 6 and 7 November. New terms of reference for the Commission have been proposed which include further efforts to fortify gender balance within the EOC
• Noted that the new EOC Athletes’ Commission Terms of Reference were approved by the EOC Executive Committee. Any amendments or adjustments will be possible in the future.
• Stated that 2023 has been turning point and a remarkable year despite the small staff and not very many consultants. The remarkable year was largely down to the administrative team and their hard work
• Progress of recruiting a CEO continues and Deloitte has been entrusted with assisting the EOC in selecting an appropriate CEO
• Commented a fresh look maybe needed on the subsidies for the EYOFs
• Highlighted the EOC Channel continues to be developed and is a very important asset which requires further investment
• Noted that there is still value in kind from the ATOS partnership which needs investing and made suggestions around an EOC Channel App and also around the database
• Commented on continued work towards meeting the requirements for the UN Climate Change “Sport For Climate Action Framework”, which is a very complex process

Report of EOC Treasurer Peter Mennel

• Confirmed that the final European Games financial report is strong and will ensure the EOC is in a good position ahead of a year with no event
• Presented the proposed 2024 budget for the EOC, noting increases in the financial support to EYOF hosts moving forward
• Noted the EOC is still due to receive the balance payment by GEF
• Noted the EOC administration has increased due to the hiring of a new CEO

European Games report from Chair of the Coordination Commission Hasan Arat

• Commented that it was a successful European Games despite the issues faced in Poland during the organisation periods
• Looking forward to the half-day session dedicated to the European Games at the General Assembly, especially to hear the comments on the four panels that are scheduled
• Noted that during his attendance at last week’s European Sports Tourism Congress in Zakopane everyone was talking about the European Games

EYOF update from EOC EYOF Commission Chair Líney Halldórsdóttir

• – Bakuriani
• Highlighted that the Coordination Commission visited in September and noted the NOCs enthusiasm for hosting the EYOF
• Explained that the athletes’ village looks set to be high quality but there is a challenge over some of the venues
• Commented that she is confident that the Georgian NOC will be ready to provide a good and compact games
• – Skopje
• Explained that discussions are ongoing with the North Macedonia NOC over the sports programme for the EYOF
• Noted that they are putting in hard work already to ensure that they are ready for the EYOF in two years’ time

EU Matters with Head of the EOC EU Office Folker Hellmund

• Highlighted that on the Erasmus+ programme there has been an increase in project applications submitted and grants handed out during 2023, but that more are always welcome from qualified NOCs
• Noted the continued success of the GAMES and OCEAN projects, as well as the latest developments in developing a programme on safeguarding
• Reported on staff changes at the EOC EU Office and the latest appointments, including the process of appointing a new Funding Officer
• Revealed that plans for the European Evening of Sport in autumn 2024 are ongoing and that invites have been sent out

EOC Athletes’ Forum with EOC Athletes’ Commission (AC) Chair Gerd Kantner

• Commented that a busy schedule for members has denied them the chance to meet in person so far in 2023, but they will meet at the Athletes Forum in Rome on 7 November
• Noted that it was disappointing that only 17 European NOCs had applied for Olympic Solidarity NOC AC grants, which offer up to 10,000USD to each AC per year for their activities
• Explained that the main issue decided at the Athletes’ Forum will be the elections and commented on the need to continue to push strong candidates into standing for the EOC Athletes Commission
• Added that though there are applications from summer athletes, there is not the required interest from winter athletes and work is being done to rectify that

ANOC report from Secretary General Gunilla Lindberg

• Remarked that negotiations continue with the Indonesian government and the NOC over the cancellation of the ANOC Beach Games in August
• Confirmed that renumeration will take time due to the collection of documents from NOCs and the time to process them
• Noted that preparations for next year’s ANOC General Assembly in Cascais, Portugal are going well and that there will be an ANOC Executive Council meeting in December

IOC report from Director of NOC Relations James McLeod

• Reported that discussions continue at a technical level ahead of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and that they are continuing to work through the various instructions that we have from Coordination Commission to ensure a successful Olympic Games
• Noted that compared to pre-Tokyo when COVID-19 was dominating preparations, that the Paris preparations are in a nice position with normal pre-games issues
• Commented that no big decisions will be made at the IOC Session in Mumbai next week but that the section focussed on the future of the Olympic Winter Games will be particularly interesting

EOC Calendar

• Confirmation that dates and locations have been set for the 53rd General Assembly in 2024 (6-7 June) and for the EOC Seminar (27-28 September)