Abstract

Das Sammelband berichtet über das internationale Symposium „EU-Weißbuch des Sports“ und deren Beiträge in denen es hauptsächlich um rechtliche, soziale sowie ökonomische Aspekte des Sports in der Europäischen Gemeinschaft geht. Verf. erläutert im Einzelnen Empfehlungen des EU-Weißbuches Sport im Bezug auf den wirtschaftlichen Aspekt von Sport. cba

Abstract

It was only in 2007 that the European Union decided to issue an EU White Paper on Sport in order to deal with the problems facing sport today. Recent events show that a clear, common EU political position is more urgently needed than ever before in order to stabilize and enhance the European sport model (Sloane, 2006). However, the obviously irreversible tendency towards a commercialization of sport cannot be ignored. The 27 EU Member States form a complex political and economic system which is facing constantly new legal challenges resulting from the progressive commercialization of sport. These challenges are addressed in the EU White Paper on Sport in order to confront them together at the European level, inter alia through requests that are annexed to the EU White Paper in the "Pierre de Coubertin" Action Plan. Sport is of great significance to the European society and it has many positive effects, primarily in the social sphere, e. g. in the fields of integration, education, public health, in the communication with other people, in fair play education and in the field of social cohesion. However, sport also has an impact on the economy of the EU Member States. This impact can be assessed positively or negatively and it therefore seems important also at the political level to support current sport structures while protecting sport from being exploited for economic purposes. The EU Commission has recognized this need and therefore developed an EU White Paper on Sport in 2007. For us the White Paper will launch a debate between the EU and the world of sport. We need this paper, because in the individual documents you get an overview of who does what and who is responsible for what. Jan Figel, EU Commissioner for Sport in Kreuzer, 10 July 2007 From an economic point of view, sport and in particular the sport federations and the IOC wished for a much stronger regulation of the various areas of responsibility so that the publication of the EU White Paper met with disappointment on the part of the presidents of some federations. Obviously they had hoped for a stronger political and legal legitimation of the areas of responsibility and thus for a solution to the current problems in European top-level sport. Einleitung