Good governance, integrity in sport necessary to preserve values, win back trust - Marlene Mizzi
During the EU Sport Forum debate on “good governance practices in European sport and the European Commission pledge for sport organisations”, MEP Marlene Mizzi said that bad governance compromises the positive influence of sport, especially on young people, in spreading social values.
MEP Marlene Mizzi was one of the speakers at the EU Sport Forum 2017, which was held on the 8th and 9th March in Malta. The event focused on various aspects of sports including: genderbased violence; sport’s contribution to growth and jobs; the role of volunteering; innovation and digital technologies; anti-doping; the environmental impact; and good governance practices. MEP Mizzi was invited to discuss the evolving good governance practices in European sport and European Commission Pledge for sport organisations together with with Janez Kocijancic, Acting President of European Olympic Committees (EOC), and moderator Michael Pedersen, internationally recognized expert in sport governance, transparency, ethics and integrity.
During the event, MEP Mizzi spoke about the most critical governance related recommendations in the report by the European Parliament on an integrated approach to sport policy, with a particular focus on good governance, accessibility and integrity. Mizzi played an instrumental role as shadow rapporteur in preparing the recently published report by the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT).
“We have come to realise that if we want to preserve sport as we know it, then we must restore people’s trust in its positive value, whether if it is for recreational purposes and whether it is organised, casual or competitive sport,” said Marlene Mizzi. “But to do that, we need to improve good governance in sport organisations and to eliminate violations of integrity of sport, which often refers to the values that sport conveys, such as fair play, solidarity or team spirit.”
While recognising that sport requires responsible and transparent management, MEP Mizzi said that the increasing amounts of money circulating in the sport sector and in the organisations involved, prompted demands for better governance.
In her remarks, Marlene Mizzi said that “although legislation versus autonomy is a sensitive issue, if sport organisations believe that they are transparent and accountable, then they won’t object to legislation encroaching on their autonomy”.
Various speakers participated in the Sport Forum including European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, Tibor Navracsics and Parliamentary Secretary for Research, Innovation, Youth and Sport, Chris Agius.