Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-12-19-Speech-4-011"

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"I would like to start by congratulating the rapporteur on this important report. Parliament has been pressing us for a European year of sport in previous resolutions, the last of which was in 1997. Up to now, the European Union has primarily paid attention to professional sport and much less to recreational sport and its cultural, educational and social merits. As has rightly been said, this is probably and primarily due to the fact that the Treaty still contains no articles giving the European Union explicit powers in this area. Yet in view of the fact that a third of EU citizens actively participate in sports and that there are more than 600 000 sports clubs, sport is undeniably an important social phenomenon. Sport is not only important on a social and cultural level but on a financial one as well. According to estimates, the sector accounts for about 2% of the European Union’s total gross domestic product. Sport is of great significance as a disseminator of positive values such as willpower, courage, tolerance, loyalty and friendship. In view of its enormous impact, however, sport is also often approached negatively with feelings of chauvinism, racism and violence, and it unfortunately also gets negative publicity as a result of violence, corruption or hooliganism. In this European Year the spotlight will be on sports education and training for young people, and this is therefore something to be celebrated. It is also true to say that less and less time and attention is devoted to sports education at school, a trend that urgently needs to be reversed. This is where sports clubs can play a complementary, supporting role for schools. It is therefore essential to improve links between clubs and schools. Sport should primarily be creating a physical and mental balance as well as social integration, and, as we are heading for enlargement in 2004, this is more than important, particularly at a time when intolerance is increasingly raising its ugly head."@en1

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