Sport can play a pivotal role in developing and consolidating constructive values

The EESC has always been at the forefront of promoting sport as a positive force for nurturing healthy values across all sections of society. The Committee has previously promoted cycling and, most recently, has advocated a focus on sport in the efforts to recover from the COVID‑19 pandemic, highlighting the role it can play in building a more resilient and sustainable society.

In its opinion on Sport and European Values, drawn up by Bernardo Hernández Bataller, the EESC says that sport helps meet the EU’s strategic objectives, brings to the fore key educational and cultural values and is a conduit of integration, since it is open to all members of the public, regardless of their gender, ethnic origin, religion, age, nationality, social situation or sexual orientation. Sport has a pivotal role to play as a tool for tackling intolerance, xenophobia and racism.

Sporting activities enable people across all sections of society to channel their hopes in a constructive way, enriching them with the values that sport entails such as hard work, solidarity and cohesion. Such activities also bring physical and mental well-being, while helping to alleviate social problems by instilling positive values.

In the opinion, the EESC calls on the EU to use sport to promote social cohesion. It advocates designing measures aimed at including disadvantaged groups in sporting activities and thus social integration. It also recommends paying particular attention to the key role played by volunteering in the development of grassroots sport and in clubs, and to removing the barriers that prevent people with disabilities and older people from taking part in sport.

Recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic through sport

In 2022, the EESC's work on sport focused on its opinion on The EU action for Post COVID-19 period: recovering better through sport, drafted by Pietro Barbieri.

After the long period of the pandemic, which hit the sports sector as a whole and local sports clubs particularly hard, the Committee put forward the argument that a strategic approach was needed to boost and promote the role of sport and physical activity in building a more resilient and sustainable society, as part of the wider process of economic and social recovery.

The Committee pointed out that sport and physical activity needed to be mainstreamed into economic and social development strategies, adding that the value of sport as a driver for social, economic and environmental sustainability should be reinforced and the importance of social dialogue on the issue of well-being and physical activity in the workplace should be recognised.

Cycling is a healthy and green mode of transport

The EESC has also underlined its strong commitment to cycling as a healthy and climate-friendly mode of transport in several opinions, such as Promotion of cross-border cycle transport and Transport in urban and metropolitan areas.

The EESC's European Cycling Lexicon (latest edition published in 2023) is a concrete and practical example of the Committee’s support for cycling. It brings together cycling-related vocabulary in all EU languages and is useful for anyone wishing to cycle in another European country and beyond.

In recent years, the EESC has also organised and supported cycling events. In May 2024, EESC member Bruno Choix led a cycling event across France and Belgium to promote the European elections and encourage people to go out to vote. The event culminated with the arrival of the group of EESC members and staff at the EESC headquarters, the Jacques Delors building in Brussels, during the Open Day on 4 May 2024.

In 2019, for the Grand Départ de Bruxelles 2019 (1-7 July 2019) of the Tour de France, the Committee promoted the role and increased popularity of cycling as a clean mode of transport. On that occasion, the EESC’s Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society held two events (on 3 July and 7 July), in cooperation with one of the participating teams, Hansgrohe SA/NV, sponsor of the BORA-Hansgrohe professional cycling team.