Consultation on the future funding for sport

On 15 November 2019 in Brussels, the European Commission’s Sport Unit gathered sport stakeholders, among which the Sport and Citizenship think tank, for a consultation on the future implementation of funding for sport, specifically on the Erasmus Sport programme 2021-2027. Member States gathered with the same objective already on 23^rd October.

A more structured and integrated programme for sport

Antoaneta ANGELOVA-KRASTEV, Director of Innovation, International Cooperation and Sport in DG EAC, European Commission opened the discussion on the importance to gather views from all key stakeholders. Negotiations at Commission, Parliament and Council level are still ongoing, particularly on budget issues. The Commission proposal includes doubling the budget for sport. The Commission also supports the view of the European Parliament to triple the programme.

Yves LE LOSTECQUE, Director of the Sport Unit in DG EAC detailed the current Commission proposal. The new draft regulation adopted on 30 May 2018 for Erasmus 2021-2027 includes a budget of 30 billion euros overall (budget doubled). Developing the European dimension of sport continues to count as one of the core objectives.

Overall, the Commission proposes a budget which would amount to 550 million euros for the next programming period. All activities from the previous programme will still be available for funding, with the introduction of two innovations in terms of content: mobility schemes and a focus the international dimension of the programme. In terms of structure, the Sport strand will now be organized the same way as the rest of the programme, with a structure in “key actions”:

• Key Action 1: Learning Mobility which will support the mobility of sport staff (including coaches, instructors, managers, etc…)
• Key Action 2: Cooperation among organisations and institutions, which will support partnerships (small and large collaborative partnerships) and not for profit sport events
• Key Action 3: Support to policy development and cooperation, support activities aimed at preparing and implementing the Union policy agenda on sport and physical activity, foster policy dialogue among relevant stakeholders, and contribute to the dissemination and awareness-raising activities about policy outcomes and priorities in the field of sport, as well as about the Programme

Sport and Citizenship’s comments

Stakeholders were given the opportunity to comment and give input on the new structure and content of the programme. Listed below are some of the main points developed and defended by Sport and Citizenship:

• Keeping the focus on grassroots sports. This might seem as a given, but it is important to maintain a strong focus on grassroots organisations. If efforts and improvements have been made to include more local organisations in the programme, this remains a challenge
• Improve accessibility through:
  • Continuing to reduce administrative burden and simplifying the application procedure
  • Improved communication and information about the opportunities offered by the programme: one good practice in this field are national contact points for Erasmus+ Sport which have been set up in countries like France, Finland, Belgium and others. Decentralizing the dissemination of the information to national agencies and/or national stakeholders is key.
  • Allowing organisations from all territories to access the programme: as of now and with current budget rules, overseas territories are de facto excluded from the programme. We suggest taking this into account by adapting funding rules to match other parts of the programme and/or raise expense caps for travel and subsistence in exceptional circumstances.
• Improving the impact assessment, evaluation and sustainability of projects. This could be done through
  • The renewal and consolidation of cluster meetings
  • The creation of sectorial networks or alliances

A second stakeholder consultation, addressing the whole Erasmus programme will be organized by DG EAC on 29 January 2020 in Brussels.

Positions:

• EOC: limit number of applications per organizations (😊)
• SO: address other topics = child abuse, sexual abuse / safeguarding kids