EPAS – Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport, a body of the Council of Europe (COE), held its annual meeting of the Governing Board and Consultative Committee in Strasbourg on June 8 and 9, 2023; providing an overview of activities and bringing changes in the elected representatives of the two EPAS bodies.

The events were held at the Council of Europe headquarters, and before the official meetings, the members were invited to an unconscious bias training on Wednesday afternoon.



The training was a part of EPAS’ ongoing work to promote equality between women and men in sport, and was held in a hybrid form. Under the slogan Look Longer. Look Wider. Look Deeper. Exploring Unconscious Bias in Women’s Sport and the Media, Dr Jane Dennehy lead the session raising awareness of sexism and unconscious bias in women’s sport and media.



The parallel sessions of in-camera meetings of the 17th Plenary meeting of the EPAS Governing Board and the 15th Plenary meeting of the Consultative Committee were held on Thursday morning. Apart of discussing the activities of EPAS and the members, also elections were held in both bodies. The Governing Board elected its new bureau in its full form. Alexandre Husting (Luxembourg) and Andrea Carletti (Italy) were re-elected as Chair and Vice-Chair respectively, along with Solène Charuau (France), Benthe Tanghe (Netherlands), Andrew Decelis (Malta), Ioanna Paraskevopoulou (Cyprus) and Diana De Aguiar Santos (Portugal) as members.



The Consultative Committee also held its plenary meeting discussing activities of EPAS and the Consultative Committee members on the topics of safe sport, inclusion, diversity, equality and the European Sports Charter. It also had interim elections, electing Charlotte Girard Fabre (International Federation for Sports Officials - IFSO) as the new Chair and Andrej Pisl (European University Sports Association - EUSA) as a supplement member, joining the other members already elected last year: Mogens Kirkeby (International Sport and Culture Association - ISCA) as Vice-Chair, and Janez Sodrznik (The Association For International Sport for All - TAFISA), Pauline Johanet (Peace and Sport), Baiba Veisa (European Fair Play Movement - EFPM) as members, with Marie Dennington (European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation - ENGSO) as the Gender Equality Rapporteur.



This year’s joint sessions focused on sport integrity. Bjørn Berge, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, opened a roundtable on the topic and welcomed the preparation by EPAS of a draft Declaration on Sport Integrity for consideration by the Committee of Ministers. He concluded stating that all stakeholders should play their role in upholding integrity in every aspect of sport. Head of the COE Sport Division and EPAS Executive Secretary Sophie Kwasny moderated the round table discussions. The first session on Integrated approach to integrity saw contributions on International Partnership Against Corruption in Sport (IPACS) by Giuseppe Deleonardis, International Olympic Committee (IOC) Deputy Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, Presentation on a proposal for ‘Clearing Sport, a new Global agency to counter crime and protect integrity (in sports)’ by Grit Hartmann, Journalist and Finnish Centre for Integrity in Sport by Satu Heikkinen, Senior Ministerial Adviser.



The second session focused on specific tools to promote sport integrity with inputs on the role of the Network of Magistrates and Prosecutors Responsible for Sports (MARS) by Jean-Yves Lourgouilloux, Deputy Public Prosecutor at the Judicial Court of Marseille, Combating the manipulation of sports competitions by George Mavrotas, Chair of the Follow-up Committee of the Macolin Convention, Ensuring the integrity of sporting environments by Rodrigo Cavaleiro, Vice-Chair of the Saint-Denis Committee and Athletes and integrity by Anna Semenova, EU Athletes.



The Governing Board also adopted the mandate of the International Network of Magistrates and Prosecutors responsible for Sport (MARS), acknowledged by all stakeholders as an instrumental step in the protection of sport integrity. The first full working day finished by a reception hosted by EPAS and Ambassador Gabriel Revel, Permanent Representative of Monaco to the Council of Europe and Chair of the EPAS Statutory Committee.



EPAS joint sessions brought reports and information of the past and upcoming EPAS events, highlighting the EPAS' 3-pillar values, starting with the first one on Ethical sport - highlighting the Round table on the integrity in sport. The second pillar - Inclusive sport - showcased the Combating Hate Speech in Sport Joint project; All In Plus project on promoting gender equality in sport, EPAS diversity conference 2023 on Inclusion of child migrants and refugees in and through sport; as well as the Webinar on protecting and promoting the human rights of transgender and intersex athletes in sports - organised with active contribution of EUSA. Under the third pillar - Safe sport, the presentation on the “Start to Talk” project was made, with the introduction to the Webinar on risks to health, scheduled to be held in September.

The Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) provides a platform for intergovernmental sports co-operation between the public authorities of its member states. It also encourages dialogue between public authorities, sports federations and NGOs. This contributes to better governance, with the aim of making sport more ethical, more inclusive and safer. EPAS Consultative Committee is composed of sports organisations, NGOs and international organisations, giving opinion and feedback on the programme of activities and provides advice for the decisions of the Governing Board, representing member states’ sports authorities (Ministries responsible for Sport). EUSA has been an active member of EPAS Consultative Committee since 2018.

For more information, please visit https://www.coe.int/en/web/sport/epas/.