1st Report on EU alcohol strategy approved
The European Parliament approved the report on the EU alcohol strategy in September.
The draft report also involved a large number of repercussions for sport. For example, proposed amendments suggested a general ban on advertising and sponsoring in connection with alcohol products along the lines of the tobacco directive. In addition, there were plans to prohibit the sale and consumption of alcohol at sports events. There were also calls for fixed broadcasting times for alcohol advertising.
Since sports sponsoring and advertising by the alcohol industry are a major source of income for sport in many EU Member States, the position of the EU-Office of German Sport was to reject the sometimes extreme interventions in these areas and it found support for this position among Members of the European Parliament. It was not possible to enforce a total ban on alcohol advertising or a ban on sports sponsoring by the alcohol industry.
The positioning of sport in this debate is of great significance, as the European Commission will use the less drastic parliamentary report as the basis of the work of future legislative initiatives in this area.
2nd Sports organisations advocate easing of visa restrictions
The European Parliament is currently discussing the so-called Community Code on Visas, which is to set EU-wide standards in issuing visas. In this debate, sports organisations see the possibility of being able to demand an easing of the restrictions on issuing visas to sportsmen and sportswomen.
International and European sports organisations are often confronted with the problem that visas are not received on time for sportsmen and sportswomen participating in major sporting events. That impedes their work and also makes it less attractive to hold international sports competitions in the EU.
The European sports movement has therefore issued a statement drawing attention to the visa problem and has already had some success.
The European Commission has taken up the visa problem in its recently-published White Paper and has established that there is a need to take action. In the bilateral visa agreement between the EU and the states of the Western Balkans as well as with Russia, Ukraine and Moldova, restrictions have already been eased for participants in international sports events and people accompanying them in a professional capacity.
Within the context of the debate on the Visa Code in the European Parliament, the European sports movement is now hoping for the support of EU decision-makers in not limiting the easing of visa restrictions only to the Olympic family in future but extending it to events held by international and European sports organisations within the EU area.
