Tomorrow (until December 12th), Athens will host a conference on "Freedom of action and moralisation of sports: ethics and independence", gathering the ministers of sports of the 49 member states of the European Cultural Convention. The meeting, explains the Extended Partial Agreement on Sports (Apes, established in 2007 by the Council of Europe to boost pan-European cooperation on sports), which promotes the conference, "intends to respond to the new ethical challenges of this sector (genetic doping, fixed matches, online betting, corruption)", and will address the topic of the financial independence of the international sporting federations, such as Cio or Uefa. Three resolutions will be adopted: on the independence of sports, on ethics, and on pan-European cooperation. In addition to the ministers, guests will include Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, deputy-secretary general of the CoE, and some presidents: John Fahey (World Anti-Doping Agency); Krisztina Gönter (Apes); Patrick Hockey (European Olympic Committee) and Michel Platini (Uefa). Participants will commit themselves to updating the 2001 Sporting Ethical Code of the CoE. Items on the agenda will include the trade of human beings in sports and discrimination in access to sporting facilities. Stronger cooperation on this issue between the CoE, the EU and the NGOs is essential. ” ” ” ” ” “
