State of the Union 2020: what about sport ?

”This is the moment for Europe to lead the way from this fragility towards a new vitality”

This is how Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, opened the floor to her first State of the Union’s speech in front of the European Parliament. As expected, a large number of topics were presented within the Commission’s strategy for the next year. Predictably, sport was not included in the list of top priorities envisaged by the former German Minister of Defence. Notwithstanding, an attentive analysis reveals several points of contact and some implicit connections that may be interesting for sport in Europe, and for future steps in the field. At Sport and Citizenship we tirelessly aim to highlight and advocate sport’s potential as a cost-effective tool that deserves further mainstreaming, and consideration as a worthy medium to be reckoned with for tackling some of Europe’s most pressing social challenges.

What is at stake ?

Promises

Throughout her speech, Ursula von der Leyen reserved very few surprises. The Covid-19 outbreak and consequent health crisis recovery allowed the President to underline three main promises summarised in three keywords: protection, stability and opportunity. “We need to build a stronger European Health Union” stated von der Leyen talking about the next steps towards a full recovery from the pandemic and a new opportunity for Europe to build a unique and common health system. Protection of European citizens will be at the core of the Commission’s strategy. “In our Union the dignity of work must be sacred”– an incipit for her second promise. Stability, as a keyword for European social market economy, stands for an increased confidence in the euro and moreover, it serves as a trigger to set up a European framework for minimum wages. Finally, the third enduring promise is that of opportunity: “We must restore the four freedoms, in full and as fast as possible” to higher up the intention of building a new strategy for the future of Schengen.

Core objectives

Introduction aside, the core of the intervention focused on the Green Deal, the Agenda for Digitalization and “a stronger Europe in the World”. Within the Green Deal, defined as “our blueprint to make the transformation”, the Commission is proposing to increase the 2030 target for emission reductions to at least 55 percent and to dedicate 37 percent of NextGenerationEU budget to Green Deal objectives. Furthermore, “Europe must now lead the way on digital, or it will have to follow the way of others, who are setting these standards for us”. This is why the Commission has decided to focus on 3 main areas within the “Digital Decade”: data, artificial intelligence and infrastructure-also allocate 20 percent of the NextGenerationEU budget to Digitalization. As a “Geopolitical Commission” von der Leyen highlighted the importance of re-establishing the international multilateral system, and the urge to take a clear position towards what is happening in the world nowadays. In conclusion, emphasis has also been put, among the others, on the migration challenge and the need to step up- not just from the Commission’s side, but more specifically from Member States’ side.

…and sport ?

As could be anticipated, sport and physical activity did not find their place within the speech of President von der Leyen. Although it was quite foreseeable, this momentum represents an important crossroad for European sport, and the State of Union may have played an important role in shaping the future challenges and peculiarities of the sport sector. 2021 promises to be an important year for European sport policy: the German Presidency of the Council, together with the support of institutional and external stakeholders, is drafting the new Work Plan for Sport for the next 3 years, and in parallel, the new Erasmus+ Programme (which currently includes a specific  sport chapter and is foreseen to mainstream sport into all three Key Actions post-2021) for 2021-2027 period will be released by January 2021.

What exactly does this entail? It means that the institutional actors will put forward a new “agenda for sport”, roughing out new priorities for the future of European sport policy. Presumably, the priorities outlined will be in line with the general framework of the EU, and therefore with the Green Deal, the Agenda for Digitalization, and the European Health Union.

Sustainable and green sport, fighting racism and LGBT+ discrimination, and health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) are hence likely to be among the new challenges of sport. And it is precisely to help tackle such European wide challenges that the unique power of sport, and its transversal nature, should be further utilised across the continent to help the Union achieve its main objectives.

… and what about Sport and Citizenship ?

Our Think tank stands behind the firm belief that sport and physical activity (SPA) are exceptional mediums to raise awareness and foster social change. While the State of the Union doesn’t specifically call upon our sector or line of work, our expertise and experience urges us to continue working in sight of contributing to much needed answers.

Cities and municipalities, for instance, are at the core of the Green Deal- sustainable changes must also begin at the local level through concrete Green Urban Plans and by encouraging the use of alternative types of transport. Ever-increasing physical inactivity levels among European citizens are partly traceable to a lack of opportunity for more daily movement (infrastructure and accessibility) and to the necessity of changing behavioural habits (promoting healthy lifestyles). Over 210 million Europeans are physically inactive, which annually costs the EU28 80 billion EUR in healthcare- a tip-of-the-iceberg figure that solely accounts for the four most widespread non-communicable diseases[1]. Our PACTE project (Promoting Active Cities Throughout Europe) seeks to provide municipalities with tangible solutions to enhance their citizens’ SPA levels and guide them to becoming Active Cities- notably through active mobility.

“Migration is a European challenge, and all Europe must do its part” asserted Ms. von der Leyen during her speech. Although the New Pact on Migration and Asylum is soon to be released, it will still have many hurdles to face before implementation. In the meantime, the welcome and social inclusion of newcomers must be a top priority in order to foster long term cohesion, which is of vital importance for both newcomers and local communities. Employed correctly sport can lay the foundation enabling socialisation, communication, empathy and ultimately a first step into a new community. The FIRE project (Football Including Refugees in Europe) is working towards delivering a relevant and accessible online tool to support local football clubs who seek to create and implement their own local inclusion initiative.

Despite the absence of sport among the priorities laid down by Ursula von der Leyen, we know the proactive role sport can play and how sport can contribute to the answers of such overwhelming challenges. Yet again, we champion the use of sport as an efficient tool and medium through which a better Europe can be reached, at all levels of action.

[1] https://www.sportetcitoyennete.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Narrative-Review_100p.pdf