The KEA Blog

Towards a European sport policy?

Towards a European sport policy?

"Sport is a growing social and economic phenomenon which makes an important contribution to the European Union's strategic objectives of solidarity and prosperity." The first sentence of the European Commission's White Paper on Sport, published on 11 July 2007, can be said to encapsulate the importance and complexity of the role of sport in Europe.

European integration and football

Mark Keller and Arsène Wenger are both from Alsace, a region at the heart of the European project and a leading- edge workshop of the European integration process. As highlighted by Philippe Kern, they are “telling examples of this Alsatian dual nature, products of that mixture of German affectivity and French sensitivity”. This duality is a vehicle for the European ideal. The plan to hold a debate on the role of football as a source of national and regional identity originated from these considerations. The discussions were chaired by MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit, an enthusiast of both football and European integration.

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