Sports issues sidelined in treaty debate

Date: 30/01/1997

PLANS to give sport special consideration in the updated Maastricht Treaty appear to have been shown the red card by a largely apathetic squad of member states.

Despite the hiatus which surrounded Belgian footballer Jean-Marc Bosman's successful European Court of Justice challenge to soccer's transfer fee system two years ago, only three of the EU's 15 member states have expressed a strong opinion on the sports-rules issue at the Intergovernmental Conference on EU reform.

Belgium and Luxembourg have said they would like to see some sort of treaty provision for sports while France has given the idea a resounding thumbs down.

Everyone else appears to have abandoned play and retired to the club house. When the Irish presidency presented its draft version of a revised treaty at December's Dublin summit, sport was not even mentioned.

But not everyone has thrown in the towel.

“We never expected sport to be at the top of the agenda for a conference whose primary aim is to discuss the future shape of the European Union. If provisions for sport are to be included, they will be added at the last minute,” said an aide to John Tomlinson, the Socialist MEP who heads a parliamentary intergroup on sport and the IGC.

Unofficially, however, it seems fairly clear that sport is unlikely to feature in the revised treaty.

“I would say we are waiting for Godot as far as sport is concerned,” said one European Commission official.

But sporting organisations still insist some sort of recognition of the fact that their sector is a special case is vital.

“We are not trying to overturn Bosman but it is important to recognise that sport is different from mainstream economic activity,” said Alasdair Bell, a lawyer for the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).