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Ministers discuss football reforms
Pan-European - 19 March, 2007
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U.K. sports minister, Richard Caborn, proposed football reforms to provide a framework for the European Commission's statutes on sport, but according to Chris Heaton-Harris, chairman of the sports intergroup, MEP, European sports ministers are trying to sabotage the reforms.
The review, which calls for UEFA to be the regulatory power between football and the EC, is meeting resistance from the Premier League.
According to Heaton-Harris, who is also a qualified referee, the leagues have successfully lobbied the sports ministers to maintain the status quo.
Caborn disagrees saying that after a two-day summit of sports ministers in Stuttgart this week he feels the discussions were upbeat, pointing out that radical reform had been called for in a public statement.
Heaton-Harris said that Caborn was being disregarded because he is expected to stand down when the Labour party leadership changes hands this year and that the shift in position of the sports ministers would be reflected in the commission's white paper.
That document will provide the framework for future statutes governing sport but it is rumoured that Jan Figel, the sport commissioner, has given in to pressure from the ministers to weaken the policy document.
Ivo Belet, Belgian MEP, has included Caborn's review into a motion that has an objective to legislate framework to govern sport and which will go before the European parliament this month.
Belet emphasises that court cases such as the one brought against UEFA and FIFA by Charleroi are potentially damaging.
"It is symptomatic to see the (European courts) and (commission) are increasingly put in the situation of ultimate recourse by the sporting actors," says the motion. "This case-by-case approach has reinforced legal uncertainty."
It confidently calls for FIFA to "review its statutes in cooperation with the commission" and to "increase its internal democracy and the transparency of its structures."
It is well known that FIFA's president, Sepp Blatter, is adamantly opposed to the involvement of political bodies in its affairs.
The review, which calls for UEFA to be the regulatory power between football and the EC, is meeting resistance from the Premier League.
According to Heaton-Harris, who is also a qualified referee, the leagues have successfully lobbied the sports ministers to maintain the status quo.
Caborn disagrees saying that after a two-day summit of sports ministers in Stuttgart this week he feels the discussions were upbeat, pointing out that radical reform had been called for in a public statement.
Heaton-Harris said that Caborn was being disregarded because he is expected to stand down when the Labour party leadership changes hands this year and that the shift in position of the sports ministers would be reflected in the commission's white paper.
That document will provide the framework for future statutes governing sport but it is rumoured that Jan Figel, the sport commissioner, has given in to pressure from the ministers to weaken the policy document.
Ivo Belet, Belgian MEP, has included Caborn's review into a motion that has an objective to legislate framework to govern sport and which will go before the European parliament this month.
Belet emphasises that court cases such as the one brought against UEFA and FIFA by Charleroi are potentially damaging.
"It is symptomatic to see the (European courts) and (commission) are increasingly put in the situation of ultimate recourse by the sporting actors," says the motion. "This case-by-case approach has reinforced legal uncertainty."
It confidently calls for FIFA to "review its statutes in cooperation with the commission" and to "increase its internal democracy and the transparency of its structures."
It is well known that FIFA's president, Sepp Blatter, is adamantly opposed to the involvement of political bodies in its affairs.
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