Funding for doping agency put on hold

Date: 04/01/01

By John Shelley

SPORTS Commissioner Viviane Reding has delayed a proposal to inject Union cash into the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) until a dispute over how much say the EU will have in running the group is resolved.

Plans to help fund the agency, originally set to be unveiled this month, have been put on hold until at least April as details of the group's overall budget and management structure for 2002 are thrashed out.

Reding is believed to be considering offering WADA around 2 million euro. But first she wants to ensure that if the EU provides up to a fifth of the body's budget, it is given a representative number of seats on its governing body. "The principle must be that the funding is proportional to our influence in WADA," said her spokesman.

Member states agreed last autumn that EU institutions should have a direct role in the group, set up to establish uniform anti-doping policies for all sports. Union governments called for Reding to sit on the board along with a minister from the member state holding the EU presidency.

WADA is currently in an interim form, based in Lausanne, and is dominated by the International Olympic Committee. It is due to become a permanent body in early 2002 and is expected to have a budget of around 10 million euro, with half coming from sport and the rest from participating countries.

Reding wants the EU to be a major contributor to prevent the agency from being dominated by the US. But she may be too late to stop it from moving outside Europe, possibly to Canada, because of infighting between Union member states over which of them should host the institution.

Sports Commissioner Viviane Reding has delayed a proposal to inject Union cash into the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) until a dispute over how much say the EU will have in running the group is resolved.