IRIS and its partners officially start an eu program to raise national awareness on match‐fixing

Les différents partenaires scientifiques se sont réunis aujourd’hui pour lancer le programme de 18 mois financé par la Commission européenne et l’association européenne des loteries et Totos d’État (EL). Ce programme intitulé « Quels réseaux nationaux dans l’Union Européenne pour lutter contre la corruption sportive ?», est conduit par l’Institut de relations internationales et stratégiques (IRIS), en partenariat avec SportAccord, ENGSO, l’Université de Salford et Sport et Citoyenneté. Ce projet faisait suite à l’appel à propositions de l’unité « Sport » de la direction générale de l’éducation et de la culture de la Commission européenne pour des projets transnationaux visant à l’élaboration de futures actions de l’Union européenne dans le domaine du sport et de ses bonnes pratiques.

Comme l’explique Pascal Boniface, directeur de l’IRIS et co-auteur du Livre blanc de l’IRIS « Paris sportifs et corruption » : « Compte tenu de l’hétérogénéité des pratiques de lutte contre la fraude sportive, mais également de fortes différences dans la manière d’aborder la régulation des paris sportifs au sein de l’UE, il semble essentiel d’informer et d’éduquer pouvoirs publics et organisations sportives sur les enjeux et les moyens d’action à développer pour préserver l’intégrité du sport ». L’objectif est également d’effectuer une remontée d’informations sur les différentes expériences nationales de lutte contre la corruption, les spécificités et les meilleures pratiques. Enfin, le programme permettra de créer un réseau européen des personnes concernées par la lutte contre la corruption dans chaque pays.IRIS  and  its  partners  held  today  the  kick‐off  meeting  of  their  18  month  program  financed  by  the  European Commission together with the European State Lotteries and Toto Association (EL). The program called “What national networks in the EU to fight against match fixing?”, is carried out by the  Institute  for  International  and  Strategic  Relations  (IRIS),  in  partnership  with  SportAccord,  the  European Non‐Governmental Sports Organisation (ENGSO), the University of Salford and the French think tank “Sport et Citoyenneté” (Sport and Citizenship). This program is a response to the call for proposals launched by the “Sport” unit of the Directorate General for Education and Culture of the European Commission to set up transnational projects with the aim of implementing future actions regarding sports and its good practices on a European scale.

Pascal  Boniface,  director  of  IRIS  and  co‐author  of  the  IRIS  white  paper  «  Sports  betting  and  corruption », explains that “given the heterogeneity of the methods used within the EU countries to tackle  sports  fraud  and  the  huge  differences  in  the  way  countries  regulate  sports  betting,  it  seems  essential to inform and educate public authorities as well as sports organisations on what is at stake when  it  comes  to  the  integrity  of  sports,  as  well  as  on  the  means  to  preserve  it”.  The  aim  of  this  project is also to compare different national experiences regarding the fight against corruption, to highlight  their  singularities  and  to  identify  best  practices.  Another  objective  consists  in  creating  a  European network linking the people (from every European Union country) concerned by the fight against corruption.

METHODOLOGY OF THE PROJECT

IRIS and its partners offer a four‐phase project which is to be carried out within each European Union member state from 2013 to 2014.
1/  Management  of  a  questionnaire,  the  aim  of  which  is  to  understand  the  singularities  of  each  country (identification of match‐fixing cases, existing sports fraud provisions, regulation of sports betting, enforcement of sports rules, ad hoc needs and demands, etc.);
2/Organisation of a seminar at a national level. Not only does this seminar aim to inform and educate the participants on the different aspects of the issues related to the integrity of sports and betting, it will  also  represent  an  opportunity  to  gather  various  targeted  people  and  to  encourage  better  communications between stakeholders;
3/  Drafting  of  a  recommendation  proposal  adapted  to  the  situation  of  each  country,  in  order  to  highlight the needs identified during the seminar, as well as priority actions to be developed at a national level.
4/  Organisation  in  Brussels  of  a  “restitution  conference”,  aimed  at  presenting  the  synthesis  of  the  conclusions and recommendations drawn during the implementation of the project.

PARTNERS

INSTITUT DE RELATIONS INTERNATIONALES ET STRATÉGIQUES (IRIS)

IRIS, an association classified as being of public interest, is the only big French think tank to have been founded as the result of a fully private initiative and in a wholly independent way. The institute addresses a  very  large  range  of  geostrategic  issues  and  works  for  public  bodies  (ministries,  European  institutions,  Parliament, international organisations) and for private companies, for which it conducts studies, writes notes and sets up trainings. In addition to this, it organises around fifty events a year (seminars, colloquia, conferences,  breakfasts,  etc.).  IRIS  is  now  acknowledged  as  an  expert  in  the  sports  field  and  the  associated  governance  issues. For more than five years, the institute has been increasing its contribution in the sports field: a White Paper called “Paris sportifs et corruption, comment préserver l’intégrité du sport” (“Sports betting and corruption: how to preserve the integrity of sports”) was published at the beginning of 2012; a study programme, the theme of which was “the strategies of sports diplomacy as new influence tools for the states” (known as “DIPLOSPORT”), has been set up in cooperation with the support of the CSFRS (Centre Supérieur de la Formation et de la Recherche Stratégiques, Centre for Strategic Training and Research); a strategic partnership has been struck with the Peace & Sport association; reference books have been published by the institute, and so on.

SPORTACCORD
SportAccord  is  the  umbrella  organisation  of  international  sports  federations  as well  as  organisers  of  international sporting events. Based in Lausanne, its core mission is to unite and support its 107 members  in  the  co‐ordination  and  protection  of  their  common  aims  and  interests.  SportAccord  encourages and facilitates knowledge sharing and provides expertise in relevant areas such as anti‐doping,  social  responsibility,  integrity,  digital  media,  etc.  By  establishing  various  multi‐sports  games  that  group  together  similar sports, SportAccord also aims to promote its members and increase their visibility.

ENGSO
The European Non‐Governmental Sports Organisation (ENGSO) is a non‐profit organisation which comprises the  national  sports  confederations  and  the  National  Olympic  Committees.  Its  members  represent  their  sports ‐ in the widest sense of the word ‐, from children’s and youth sports (through “sports for all” activities) to elite sports. Today, 40 organisations are full members of the ENGSO, among which 27 Olympic Committees and 13 confederations are to be found.

THE UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD
The British University of Salford offers tuitions from secondary to postgraduate education, with the aim to prepare  the  students  to  work  in  the  research  field  or  within  a  company.  The  Business  School  of  the  University of Salford has founded an important research unit which carries out studies on sports and has struck numerous partnerships with bodies such as the Football Association and the Recreation Alliance.

SPORT ET CITOYENNETÉ
Sport  et  Citoyenneté  is  a  think  tank,  the  mission  of  which  is  to  initiate  a  civic  European  dialogue  regarding the sports field; this dialogue is to originate from a common thinking on the matter and from the networking of people involved in European sports. The results of these processes are then brought to the attention of the European public decision‐makers, with a view to making them acknowledge the specificity of sports when it comes to its social, educative and civic aspects. Every quarter, Sport et Citoyenneté publishes a reference  scientific  journal  which  links  sports  with  main  societal  issues,  analyses  political  current  affairs  and  develops  multidisciplinary reflections.

THE EUROPEAN LOTTERIES (EL)
The European Lotteries (EL) is the European umbrella organisation of national lotteries operating games of chance for the public benefit. The association’s members contribute more than 25 billion EUR p.a. to the state budgets and the funding of sport, culture, social projects, research and other causes of general interest.  EL  is  Europe’s  by  far  largest  and  geographically  most  representative  association  of  gambling  operators with members from more than 40 European countries and includes the biggest land‐based sport  betting  operators  in  Europe.  EL  members  offer  sport  betting  in  23  out  of  27  EU  Member  States. Preserving the integrity of sports is of particular importance to the EL and its members. The code of conduct they signed in 2007  and  the  2011  Sports  Charter  are  evidence  of  this  commitment.  The  lotteries  which  joined  the  EL  furthermore  unconditionally support the project of an international convention on which the Council of Europe is currently working (EPAS).

NATIONAL LOTTERY PARTNERS:

AB Svenska Spell (Sweden) ‐ Austrian Lotteries (Austria) ‐ Belgium National Lottery (Belgium) ‐ Danske Spil (Denmark) ‐ De Lotto  (Netherlands) ‐  Eurofootball  (Bulgaria) ‐  Française  des  Jeux  (France) ‐  Hrvatska  Lutrija  (Croatia) ‐  Lotto  Hessen  (Germany) ‐ Lotto Niedersachen (Germany) ‐ Lotto Schleswig‐Holstein (Germany) ‐ Lottomatica (Italy) ‐ Santa Casa da Misericordia  de  Lisboa  (Portugal) ‐  Sazka  sazkova  kancelar  a.s.  (Czech  Republic) ‐  Sisal  S.P.A.  (Italy) ‐  Sportna  Loterija  (Slovenia) ‐ Szerencsejatek Zrt (Hungary) ‐ Veikkaus Oy (Finland) ‐ Tipos (Slovakia)