Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-09-07-Speech-4-029"
Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
---|---|
rdf:type | |
dcterms:Date | |
dcterms:Is Part Of | |
dcterms:Language | |
lpv:document identification number |
"en.20000907.1.4-029"2
|
lpv:hasSubsequent | |
lpv:speaker | |
lpv:spokenAs | |
lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, we live in an era in which Europe is moving towards federalisation. We might say that sport has got there first, that sport built structures before we were able to do so at political, economic or other levels.
Why? Because sport had its roots in ancient Greek Olympia, sport had prophets such as de Coubertin, and sport allowed peoples to meet in peace. Europe was at war but, at the same time, it had common sporting structures and common sporting rules. Today the tables have turned: we are preparing to review the Treaty, we are increasing the number of common rules and common principles and our works and structures, while sport is falling apart.
Why? Because big business calls the shots, because major financiers are involved, because the mass media are backed by strong centres of power and because, in my view, intervention by the European Union is inadequate and misguided. By intervening in sporting issues solely from the point of view of competition, the European Union has, in essence, strengthened this trend and this attitude.
I think we are at a turning point. Thank goodness we have President Buffet and the French Presidency which, I think, has taken up and taken a leading role in the matter of unifying and developing and strengthening our sporting structures. I think that Mrs Reding also has a positive part to play on behalf of the Commission in changing the way in which the Commission intervenes. In this sense, I think that we can avert what is happening in the basketball federation today and what we can see will happen in all the other sports tomorrow, and maintain the unity of sport and its contact with society."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples