mr president i believe that we all agree on the importance of sport and that it can be very enjoyable for all of us
i thank you all very much for your input and proposals which will be seriously taken into account
there is no doubt that some eu action is desirable sports federations do not have the powers to intervene in some of the worse cases of malpractice
such problems now take on a transnational dimension as sport becomes more globalised
the internationalisation of professional sport makes it difficult to adopt a national approach to problems of a systemic nature
the eu can play a coordinating role and help to ensure a harmonised approach to the issue of agents
we might for example use the new competence acquired by the eu for the harmonisation of criminal law
many actors within the sports movement would certainly welcome our support
of course whatever action we decide to take we will work closely with the relevant federations and i intend to publish as you know a communication on sport very soon and this communication will certainly look at this issue in more detail
it would be wrong to prejudice the discussions which we need to have with you the parliament as well as the sports movement itself
i am looking forward to working closely with you to take this issue forward
