The Ministers of Sport of the European Union unanimously agreed to design a common policy to boost the social role and values of sport and the fight against racism, violence and doping in the first Council of Ministers of Sport

Meeting for the first time in the history of the EU, in Brussels the Council of Ministers of Sport have supported the proposal of the Commissioner of Education, Culture, Multilingualism, Youth and Sport, Androulla Vassiliou, to develop a declaration based on five major objectives:

• Promoting the educational and social function of sport.
• Supporting sport structures, especially those of volunteers, and ensuring sustainable funding.
• Promoting values such as the fight against discrimination and xenophobia.
• Defending the moral and physical integrity of athletes, including the fight against doping
• Strengthening dialogue and co-operation within the world of sport and its organisations.

Vassiliou is committed to developing a declaration based on these principles, expected for next November, to allow the EU to agree on common policies in these areas in 2011.

At a press conference at the end of the meeting, the Spanish Secretary of State for Sport, Jaime Lissavetzky, who chaired the meeting, stressed the importance of this first Council of Ministers, which shows that "sport now plays in the Champions League of the EU" as an independent issue.

Among the issues addressed by the ministers, Lissavetzky stressed the need for the EU to "carry its own weight within the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA)." European ministers have agreed to conduct studies and collect data to allow, "not so much the harmonization of laws, but the sharing of experiences and the definition of a common course of conduct," he said.

Lissavetzsky noted that possible points in the fight against doping might be the establishment of closer co-operation with Interpol and pharmaceutical companies to promote fair play.