Pages

Thursday, January 21, 2010

EU sports policy to focus on societal issues

From Euractiv:

The first commissioner to shape the EU's new competence on sport policy said that she will, if confirmed, emphasise the societal role of sport and aim to use it as a vehicle to achieve positive change in other sectors, such as health, gender equality and education.

"The societal role of sport is a very important aspect of sport policy and I really intend to work on that," said Cypriot Commissioner-designate for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou during a three-hour hearing on Thursday (14 January).

"We really have to use sport for the sake of sport itself but also as a tool for other policies," she continued, referring to her experience as EU health commissioner and knowledge of studies revealing links between a lack of physical activity and obesity, for example.

In addition to promoting health-enhancing physical activity, the commissioner-designate listed promotion of grassroots sport, addressing violence and racism in sport and promoting its social and educational functions among her future priorities.

No comments:

Post a Comment