Brussels, 28 November 2007

Secretary of State,
Honourable Members of the European Parliament,
Distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour for me to open today’s conference. I would like
to welcome many distinguished guests who have kindly accepted our
invitation to share their views and experience with us.
Your insight is going to be extremely important for us when it
comes to designing and implementing a Europe–wide strategy against
violence in sport. I appreciate the close co–operation between the
services of Vice- President Commissioner Frattini and my services, as
well as with UEFA.

This conference could not have occurred at a more appropriate
time. Important developments have taken place in the past few months
that have strengthened the role of sport in EU policy making. In July,
the Commission adopted the White Paper on Sport, its first
comprehensive policy document in this area. The Reform Treaty
finalised in Lisbon last month has included provisions on sport. This
inclusion will extend the competence of the Union to sport for the first
time.

II

Turning now to the problem at hand, I have to say that the
prospects are not rosy at all. The issue of violence in sport—both
inside and around sport facilities—is unfortunately a recurrent feature.
We have to realise that sport can get the best and the worst out of
people. The challenge for public authorities and opinion leaders is to
allow sport to deploy its potential to the full while curbing its negative
impact.

This was a terrible month for violence in sport. On November
11, a soccer fan travelling to watch an away match was shot dead by
the police. The incident happened miles away from the stadium after
two groups of rival fans had a scuffle at a service station along the
motorway.

It was a sad and unusual incident which is still being
investigated by Italian authorities. The reaction of hooligans when the
news spread was more significant. Fans from rival teams joined forces
to attack police stations and stage urban–guerrilla actions in at least
four cities. Three top league matches were called off on the day of the
shooting and Italy’s football authorities cancelled all matches the
following week.

The question then is, is this a sport–related problem or not? Is
this more than just isolated outbreak of violence from groups of
frustrated individuals? Is this really the worst side of the sport
movement in action, or are we talking about people who take football
as a pretext for acts of violence they would commit anyway? And why
do some sports seem to attract violence in a way that others do not?
Is this primarily a challenge for our police and security forces or
is concerted action within the world of sport also needed to prevent
this sort of incident from happening again? There are no easy answers
to these questions. Of one thing I am sure, though: this type of
violence is totally unacceptable and I condemn it wholeheartedly.
And we must be clear that the violence of hooligans is absolutely
damaging to sport. Those people do not represent any sport
organisation, nor do they get any support or endorsement from them.

On the other hand, we ought to recognise that groups of supporters are
linked
to sports events and organisations in one way or another—
including organised groups of troublemaking supporters.
So, the best answer is to pull together all our resources. Security,
intelligence and policing are one part of the solution; another part is to
engage in a constructive and frank dialogue with the sport movement.
This way, we can attack the problem from all sides.

It is the responsibility of interior and justice ministries, police
and customs authorities of Member States to look at how such
outbreaks of violence can be prevented, and how they can be managed
when they occur. In this context, Vice-President Frattini and his
services have the role to co–ordinate action at European level when
needed.

My role and that of my services—the Directorate General for
Education and Culture—is to insert the issue into our structured
dialogue with the sport movement and with national authorities in
charge of sport. We have to change the culture surrounding certain
sports and we can only do that through dialogue.
I see this conference as an important chapter in this dialogue.
Today and tomorrow you will work on these issues in a very practical,
problem–focussed way and I am looking forward to the conclusions
you will adopt.

III

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Our dialogue with the sport movement is closely linked to the
White Paper on Sport, and I would like to explain this to you in some
more detail. The White Paper was adopted in July this year and
recently endorsed at a meeting of Sports Ministers in October. The
White Paper on Sport includes also a section on Racism and violence.
These are not the same thing, of course, but they are certainly linked.
In our policy document we recognise that violence at sport
events has been shifting from inside stadiums to the areas outside,
including urban areas. In the White Paper we stress our commitment
to the prevention of violent incidents by promoting dialogue with all
relevant partners at international, national, regional and local levels.
We are aware that law enforcement authorities cannot deal with
the problem alone. The underlying causes of violence in sport must be
tackled and a multi–actor approach is needed.

Our work to develop a European sports policy does not look
only at the principles; we have also put forward a series of possible
practical actions that can implement them. These are included in the
“Pierre de Coubertin” Action Plan, which complements the White
Paper. Among these suggestions, you can find that the Commission
encourages the exchange of best practices and of operational
information related to supporters who pose a potential risk of
violence. These exchanges should involve police services and sport
authorities. Particular importance should be given to police training on
crowd management and hooliganism.

IV

Ladies and Gentlemen:

As so much in life, managing human aggression depends to a
large extent on having a good method and following it. Therefore, the
Commission recommends that sport organisations survey existing
experiences, and set up procedures that would prepare them to deal
with episodes of violence and racist abuse during matches.
In addition, we call upon all the parties concerned to look into
the possibility for new legal instruments and other EU–wide standards
to prevent public disorder at sport events. In other words, the
escalation of sport–related violence may require an effort of
imagination on the part of the public authority.
In the past, many successful cases of reduction of sport–related
violence have involved good co–operation with other actors, including
fan communities. This is why we recommend promoting a
multidisciplinary approach to preventing anti–social behaviour. Here
the focus should be on socio–educational actions targeting supporters.
What we envisage is long–term work with supporters to develop a
positive and non–violent attitude.
Finally, let me confirm that the EU sports policy—still in its
nascent stage—will always be the ultimate responsibility of national
authorities and autonomous governance bodies of sport. However, a
range of existing EU programmes can already be used to fight against
violence and racism in sport. I am thinking of the youth and
citizenship policies under my responsibility, and of some programmes
under the responsibility of Vice- President Frattini, such as DAPHNE

III, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, and Prevention of and Fight
against Crime.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I have tried to give you my views on a complex issue: sport
related violence involves a very large number of factors. Hooliganism
can be regarded as the symptom of broader social ills; it can be ignited
by the irresponsible behaviour of some players; and it is related in
worrying ways to the media and to their coverage of sports events and
of anything related to them.

But I have also illustrated the principles and the suggested
actions for implementation of the fledgling sports policy of the EU.

V

To conclude, I would like to share a wish with you.
I love sport for its power to entertain, educate, and contribute to
a healthy population. Athletic games are an ancient conquest of our
civilisation and one of the highest to date.

When I see people—no matter how many or few—using
sporting events as public stages for their acts of violence, I feel that
something important and beautiful is lost. This is sad and totally
unacceptable. It is like breaking a sacrilege, defiling an old painting,
polluting our most cherished cultural wells.

I hope we can all come together and cure this social plague for
good. I hope we can all return to our sports grounds of choice in a
safe, festive environment, with our children and families.
This conference is certainly a first step in the right direction; I
wish you a fruitful debate and I am looking forward to your
contributions and conclusions.

Thank you.