Engaging with the EU in order to minimize its impact: sport and the negotiation of the Treaty of Lisbon

Abstract

The absence of explicit reference to sport in the European Union (EU) treaties has allowed the Court and the Commission room to require sport to adjust to the standards required by EU law. Sporting federations typically assert a need for a wider zone of autonomy than the Court and Commission have been prepared to grant, but, unable to persuade the Member States that they deserve exemption from the application of the Treaty, sports bodies have increasingly been induced to develop strategies of co-existence with the EU. This paper shows how they were able to exert influence in both the Convention on the Future of Europe and the subsequent intergovernmental conference in order to secure recognition of sport's special characteristics within the Treaty, albeit in ambiguous form. Sports bodies engage with the EU precisely in order to minimize its impact. The relevant provisions of Treaty of Lisbon dealing with sport are examined to show that they leave open scope for future contestation about the interaction between EU law and policy and the systems of sports governance.

Keywords:

• Convention on the Future of Europe
• intergovernmental conference
• Lisbon Treaty
• lobbying
• sport

Notes

Case C-415/93 [1995] ECR I-4921.

Case 36/74 [1974] ECR 1405.

See note 1.

Case C-519/04 P [2006] ECR I-6991.

COMP 37.806 ENIC/ UEFA, 27 June 2002.

Interview, Christophe de Kepper, IOC senior official, Lausanne, 16 February 2007.

Interview, Christophe de Kepper, see note 6.

Interview, Tilo Friedmann, former director of the EU Office of German Sports (now rebranded as EOC-EU Office), Brussels, 11 May 2006.

Cases C-51/96 and C-191/97 Deliege v Ligue de Judo [2000] ECR I-2549 paras 41–2; Case C-176/96 Lehtonen et al. v FRSB [2000] ECR I-2681 paras 32–3.

Interview, Christophe de Kepper, see note 6.

CONV 112/02, 17 June 2002. Documentation is available via http://european-convention.eu.int/

See, e.g. CONV 189/02, 12 July 2002 (Hänsch et al.), CONV 234/02 3 September 2002 (Duff), CONV 335/02 19 November 2002 (Ornella Paciotti), CONV 325/1/02/REV1 6 December 2002 (Brok), CONV 541/03, 6 February 2003 (Brok), CONV 325/2/02/REV2 7, March 2003 (Brok), CONV 495/03, 20 January 2003 (Teufel).

CONV 33/02, 17 April 2002 (Duhamel), CONV 337/02, 10 October 2002 (Tajani), CONV 478/03, 10 January 2003 (Haenel et al.).

http://european-convention.eu.int/docs/Treaty/cv00528.en03.pdf, p. 18.

See Working Group V Working Documents 25 and 29 (neither offers any reasoned explanation for bringing sport into the Treaty).

CONV 375/1/02, available at http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/02/cv00/00375-r1en2.pdf

Personal communication to the authors from Mr Christophersen.

Interview, Tilo Friedmann, see note 8.

Interview, Tilo Friedmann, see note 8.

Interview, Tilo Friedmann, see note 8.

Interview, Jacobo Beltrán, policy advisor to the Spanish sports minister, Madrid, 5 January 2007.

Interview, Jacobo Beltrán, policy advisor to the Spanish sports minister, Madrid, 5 January 2007.

Interview, Yves Le Lostecque, former Deputy Head of Sports Unit, DG Education and Culture, European Commission, Brussels, 6 June 2006.

Interview, Tilo Friedmann, see note 8. Also ratified by Jacobo Beltrán (see note 21) and Jose Maria Alises, policy advisor to the Spanish Sports Minister.

Interview, Tilo Friedmann, see note 8.

CONV 783/03 ‘Summary report on the plenary session’, 16 June 2003, p. 12.

CONV 398/02, 12 November 2002, p. 4.

CONV 337/02, 10 October 2002 (Tajani) (‘specificita’); CONV 478/03, 10 January 2003 (Haenel et al.).

Interviews: Jacobo Beltrán (see note 21), Tilo Friedmann (see note 8), Jaime Andréu, former Head of the European Commission Sports Unit, Brussels, 20 March 2006.

Interview, Jacobo Beltrán, see note 21. Pescante's role has also been confirmed by Jaime Andréu and Tilo Friedmann (see note 29).

Interview, Jacobo Beltrán, see note 21.

Interview, Tilo Friedmann, see note 8.

Interview, Jaime Andréu, see note 29.

Interview, Jacobo Beltrán, see note 21.

‘Lisbon Treaty gives a boost to sport’, 30 November 2009, available at https://www.sportsfeatures.com/presspoint/pressrelease/50491/lisbon-treaty-gives-a-boost-to-sport