The fight against doping and the role of the EU in the world of sports were discussed during the meeting, on 8 June in Brussels, between Ján Figel’, the European commissioner in charge of sports, and a delegation from the Olympic Movement, led by Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The topics discussed included the financing of sport (sport betting rights and fair return to sport); the results of the recent EU conference on anti-doping in Athens; the launch of preparatory action in the field of sport financed from this year’s EU budget; and work to be launched in the area of combined education and sports training for high-level sportspeople (dual careers).

This was the second meeting of its kind after a similar meeting organised in Lausanne, on 26 January, where the issues discussed included the specificity and autonomy of sport, the financing of sport and related issues, such as betting, the application of EU competition law and of free movement principles in the field of sport, and the fight against doping. Both meetings served as follow-up to the European Council’s declaration on sports of 11-12 December 2008, which called for the strengthening of dialogue with the world of sport. Moreover, the first EU Sport Forum was organised by the Commission, in November 2008. The next such even is scheduled for April 2010.

Cooperation between the IOC and the Commission can «improve our ability to bring the benefits of sport to the European Union and find more effective ways to combat doping, illegal betting and other threats to sport», said Rogge.