1. Green Week in Brussels
During the “Green Week” from 2 to 5 June 2003, the DG Environment of the European Commission will be conducting an information programme about their activities over the past year. The programme will include seminars, workshops, an exhibition, and prize awards for outstanding environmental projects.
The themes of the Green Week 2003 will be:
· sustainable production and sustainable consumption
· renewable energy and climate change
· water
The latter will also cover the new draft guideline on bathing water. The Council is presently dealing with the Commission’s draft guideline through the co-decision procedure.
2. Report on women and sport
The European Parliament Committee for Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities has presented a preliminary report on women and sport.
In a list of demands containing 38 points, the Committee has called for equal opportunities for women in school-sport, as well as leisure and competitive sport. This does not only concern the practise of sports, but also to the entitlement to positions in federations and committees.
The following areas were mentioned specifically:
· The structuring of the issue “Women and Sport”
· Developing school and leisure sport
· Ensuring equal rights in high-level sport
· Ensuring the health of female athletes
· Increased participation of women in the decision-making process
The report should be seen in connection with the fact that women’s participation in the various domains of sport has grown continuously since the founding of the modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens, but has remained significantly less than that of men.
The committee in charge is now discussing the preliminary report. The requested modifications will be incorporated and it will be put to the vote, before it can be passed by a plenum of the European Parliament.
info@eu-sport-office.org
3. Irish TV list published
In accordance with the “Television without Frontiers directive, the national Irish list of events with a particular social significance has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. These lists are submitted by the member states to the Commission, where they are checked for final conformity with Community law.
At least 90 % of the Irish population must be able to watch the following events free of charge in television:
· Summer Olympic Games
· Finals of the all-Ireland football and hurling championships (senior inter-county football and hurling finals)
· Qualifying games with Irish participation for the European Football Championships and World Football Championships, held at home or abroad
· Games of the Irish national team in the European Football Championships and World Football Championships
· Opening games, semi-finals, and finals of the European Football Championships and the World Football Championships
· Games of the final round of the World Rugby Championships with Irish participation
· The Irish Grand National and Irish Derby (horse-races)
· The Nations’ Cup at the Dublin Horse Show
4. The “Feel free to say no” campaign on tour
The EU-wide campaign to combat smoking among the youth, which began on 31 May 2002 on the occasion of the World Football Championships (see monthly report of May 2002), is now continued by a road-show. The campaign truck will be travelling through the member states and will contribute to 40 events. An advertising campaign will be run concurrently in youth magazines and on the Internet. With these measures, the Commission expects to reach more than 4.5 million young people. With the prominent support of sports personalities and musicians, young people will be encouraged to say No to smoking. Eight out of ten smokers start smoking between the ages of 12 and 18, and about one of three young people in the EU smoke regularly.
The campaign truck will be at the International Youth Exhibition in Essen from 29 to 31 May and at the Danube Island (Donauinsel) Festival in Vienna from 20 to 22 June.
