The EU Sports Policy in Motion: Interview with Maxime Leblanc

IRIS: You have been working for several years on the European sports policy. Could you briefly describe the main evolutions in this field since the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009?

MAXIME LEBLANC: The very first European step in sport policies can be found in 2007, with the adoption of the White Paper on Sport produced by the European Commission. It is the first largescale European initiative on sport and sets the EU “doctrine” on sport and its role in the lives of European citizens.

More importantly, it recognizes the impact that sport can have on other European policies. It is structured in 3 main chapters: the societal role of sport, the economic dimension of sport and the organisation of sport.

The year 2009 indeed marks a turning point for the field of sport, with the Lisbon Treaty mentioning sport as a supporting competence of the European Union for the first time. It means that before 2009 the EU was not granted a competence to conduct a direct policy on sports. The New Article 165 in the Lisbon Treaty thus constitutes an important step with the view to build coherent and structured policies, while recognizing the societal dimension of sport. This new article states that “The Union shall contribute to the promotion of European sporting issues, while taking account of the specific nature of sport, its structures based on voluntary activity and its social and educational function”…