10. Calls on the Council and Commission to send a delegation to Turin for the opening and closing
ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics;
11. Calls on the Council and Commission to urge the IOC and the Organising Committee of the Turin
Games to agree that the EU flag should be displayed prominently on the signs put up by the organising city
for the Games and at the sports venues where the Games will take place;
12. Believes that the Olympic Truce is about more than a call for a brief cessation of conflicts and, in
this regard, welcomes the interfaith and educational initiatives in Turin, Jerusalem and Sarajevo;
13. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of
the Member States and the countries participating in the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Turin, and tothe Secretary-General of the United Nations and the President of the International Olympic Committee.
P6_TA(2005)0464
Development and sport
European Parliament resolution on development and sport
The European Parliament ,
— having regard to Resolution 58/5 adopted by the UN General Assembly on 17 November 2003 entitled
“Sport as a means to promote education, health, development and peace ”,
— having regard to the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,
— having regard to the Magglingen Declaration of 18 February 2003 issued by the International Confe-
rence on Sport and Development,
— having regard to the report on the Next Step Conference held on 13-14 November 2003, Amsterdam,
— having regard to Rule 108(5) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas 2005 is the United Nations International Year of Sport and Physical Education,
B. whereas one of the goals of the International Year is to create the right conditions for more sports-
based development programmes and projects,
C. whereas physical education and sports projects may help to attain the Millennium Development Goals,
especially with regard to themes such as health, education, social mobilisation, gender equality, environ-ment and peace among people,
D. whereas sport can play a positive role in social inclusion and cohesion, intercultural dialogue, environ-
mental understanding and the reintegration of children in post-conflict situations, for example childsoldiers,
E. whereas sports projects in development are “low-cost, high impact ”projects,
F. whereas, according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have the right to play,22.11.2006 MT C 285 E/135 Il-Ġurnal Uffi ċjali ta' l-Unjoni Ewropea
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G. whereas there are 60 million persons with disabilities living in developing countries; whereas the inte-
rests and concerns of disabled persons in the developing world are often inadequately addressed,
H. whereas the UNDP Human Development Report 1995 stated that development without specific efforts
to empower women for equal participation warps the process of development for everyone,
1. Welcomes the 2005 United Nations International Year of Sport and Physical Education, as sport and
physical education are excellent means to promote education, health, development and peace, especially for
vulnerable groups in society, such as children and the disabled;
2. Underlines the significant educational and social functions of sport and its importance not only in
terms of physical development but also in terms of its capacity to promote social values, such as team spirit,fair competition, cooperation, tolerance and solidarity;
3. Recognises the social significance of sports organisations, being an integral part of civil society and
bringing together people from all classes, intellectual and cultural backgrounds, from grassroots level up toand including the elite;
4. Emphasises that, in order for sport to be effective for development, the availability of sport itself needs
to be developed;
5. Emphasises that sports projects can be a cross-cutting means of building capacity in education, health
in general, HIV/Aids prevention and peace-building and to combat social exclusion, violence, inequalities,racism and xenophobia;
6. Calls on the Commission to consider supporting sports-based development programmes and projects,
through an earmarked budget;
7. Calls on the Commission to promote a study of the results of projects that have been carried out by
development organisations and sports organisations on development and sport, the potential of policy inthis field and the possible role of the EU, the Member States and/or NGOs in development and sport;
8. Calls on the Commission to create programmes to increase knowledge and experience among teachers
of physical education in the field of development through sport;
9. Calls upon the Council to incorporate sport and development explicitly in national policies targeting
poverty reduction, and calls on the Council and the Commission to cooperate with national and internatio-nal sports organisations in order to achieve these aims;
10. Recognizes the full right of women to participate freely in sports, encourages a greater participation
of women in sport and development, defines gender equality as an objective in sport for development
initiatives and stresses that the World Conferences on Women and Sport led to major progress in the field
of women's sports around the world;
11. Encourages international and national sports bodies and sports-related organisations to draw up and
implement partnership initiatives and development projects compatible with the education provided at alllevels of schooling to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals;
12. Calls for special attention to be paid to access for disabled persons to sports activities, as well as to all
aspects of life, given its importance to the rehabilitation and social inclusion of disabled persons, for exam-ple through mobilising health care workers at local level and empowering local communities by increasingexpertise and support tools;C 285 E/136 MT 22.11.2006 Il-Ġurnal Uffi ċjali ta' l-Unjoni Ewropea
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13. Calls for the training of journalists to eliminate stereotyping, discrimination and racism in sports
reporting;
14. Encourages international sport organisers and sponsors to invest in local communities in developing
countries;
15. Welcomes the forthcoming World Summit on Physical Education to be held on 2-3 December 2005
in Magglingen, Switzerland;
16. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments
and parliaments of the Member States, the ACP-EU Council of Ministers and Joint Parliamentary Assembly,the UN Secretary-General and the African Union.
P6_TA(2005)0465
Approval of the Commission
European Parliament resolution on guidelines for the approval of the Commission (2005/2024(INI))
The European Parliament ,
— having regard to Articles 213 and 214 of the Treaty establishing the European Community and Ar-
ticle 126 of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (1),
— having regard to Articles I-26, I-27, I-28, III-348 and III-350 of the Treaty establishing a Constitution
for Europe, and to Declaration 7 on Article I-27 of the Constitution for Europe, annexed to the Final
Act of the Intergovernmental Conference,
— having regard to Article 10 of the Act of 20 September 1976 concerning the election of Members of the
European Parliament by direct universal suffrage (2),
— having regard to the Framework Agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the
Commission of 26 May 2005 (3),
— having regard to its resolution of 18 November 2004 on the election of the new Commission (4),
— having regard to Rule 45 and to Rules 98 and 99 of its Rules of Procedure,
— having regard to the report of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (A6-0179/2005),
Whereas:
A. parliamentary hearings of Commission candidates, first used in 1994 and developed since, have acqui-
red a legitimacy which is fully accepted not only by Parliament and the Commission but also by theCouncil and the Member States,
B. the Commission's democratic accountability is greatly enhanced by a parliamentary approval process
which is open, fair and consistent, and in which each Commissioner-designate discloses to Parliamentall relevant information,
C. in the light of experience and with a view to future constitutional reform, it is now desirable to review
the way Parliament approves the Commission,
(1) As amended by Article 4 of the Protocol on enlargement of the Treaty of Nice, as modified by Article 45 of the 2003
Act of Accession.
(2) OJ L 278, 8.10.1976, p. 5. Act as amended by Council decision 2002/772/EC, Euratom (OJ L 283, 21.10.2002, p. 1).
(3) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0194, Annex.
(4) OJ C 201 E, 18.8.2005, p. 113.22.11.2006 MT C 285 E/137 Il-Ġurnal Uffi ċjali ta' l-Unjoni Ewropea
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