The sport related tasks of the Hungarian EU Presidency came to an end with the Informal Meeting of EU Sport Directors. On the final meeting day, chaired by Attila Czene, State Minister for Sport of the Ministry of National Resources, the sport directors discussed about the common challenges faced by European sport, the cooperation with third countries and the role of volunteering in sport. Mr. Pál Szekeres deputy state secretary for sport also participated at the meeting.
Minister of State for sport, Attila Czene summarized the six months activities and the results of the Hungarian Presidency, saying „In sport, Hungarian Presidency set up the ground for future steps.This is a particular pleasure for us, sport experts of a country which has always had the tradition of being a sport nation. The success of Hungarian top sport may appear to some European countries as exemplary, but we have learnt a lot from other member states during our Presidency, too. We are going to use this experience to catch up with other countries’ sport participation figures and become – beyond being a sport nation – a nation which makes a lot of sport at daily level.”
The Council of the European Union defined 2011 as the Year of European Year of Voluntary Activities promoting Active Citizenship. The priorities of the first EU Work Plan adopted under the Hungarian Presidency includes volunteering, and the participants of the sport directors’ meeting also had it on their agenda.
The European Year of Volunteering was presented by Gábor Balogh, sport counsellor of the Prime Minister. He said „The most popular and spectacular sector of volunteering in sport is the voluntary work linked to the big sport events. Nowadays practically no sport event can be organized without volunteers .That is why the national series of events of the European Year of Volunteering includes three major sport events organized in Hungary: the Division I Ice Hockey World Championship, the Canoe-Kayak World Championship and the nation-wide grass-root sport promotion event called Let’s choose a sport.”
2012 is going to be the European Year of Active Ageing. Sport for senior citizens was already on the agenda of the informal sport ministers’ conference earlier this year, when Sarolta Monspart, former world champion in orienteering, made a presentation on the topic, together with some practical exercise. Sarolta Monspart is also invited by the forthcoming Polish Presidency to continue with her presentations.
At the end of the Sport Directors Meeting, Hungary has arrived to the end of a successful presidency term in the field of sport. Of course EU related work is not over for the sport administration: in the future experts will take part in a number of expert groups set up on the basis of the Work Plan and the work in the Council working party will go on as well, so Hungary will continue to be an active partner in EU cooperation in sport.
At the sport directors’ meeting, Minister of State Attila Czene thanked the Spanish and Belgian Presidency teams for the three countries’ good trio cooperation. At the end of the meeting delegates were informed about the programme of the Polish Presidency starting on 1 July 2011, and the Minister of State wished them good luck and success.
The results of the carriage driving competition of the delegations are the following:
I. The representative of the Latvian delegation: Ms. Agra Bruna,
II. The representative of the German delegation: Ms. Silke Schäfer,
III. The representative of the French delegation: Mr. Jean-Luc Janiszewski.
(kormany.hu)
