European University Sports Association (EUSA) was recently granted a status of observer in the European Commission's Expert Group on Human Resources Development in Sport (XG HR), in the topic of volunteering. EUSA Secretary General Mr Matjaz Pecovnik attended the inaugural meeting of the Expert Group, which took place on February 17, 2015 in Riga, Latvia.

The meeting began with the welcome addresses and introduction of the agenda by the Expert Group Chair, Mr Guy Taylor and EU Sport Unit Policy Officer, Ms Agata Dziarnowska.



After the introduction of the representatives of the EU member states, the representatives of the observes shortly introduced their organisations and their experience in the area of sport in relation to volunteering. Mr Pecovnik reported on the EUSA volunteer programme, focusing on the last edition of the European Universities Games, with over 100 international volunteers involved in the event. He also presented EUSA experiences in running the Internship and the European Voluntary Service Programs as well as the view on the topics of minimum rights and privileges of the sport volunteer, promotion of volunteering in sport on the national and EU level, and legal and fiscal questions connected with the volunteering in sport.



In the continuation of the meeting, the draft document structure on the recommendations to encourage the volunteering in sport, including best practices on legal and fiscal mechanism was presented and discussed among the participants.