8.6.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 224/9 Tuesday 23 November 2021
Helping sport to ensure a successful recovery 66.
Insists on the need for support and dedicated funding mechanisms to get the sport sector and all sports back on track in the wake of COVID-19, including through national support funds, the Recovery and Resilience Facility and EU structural funds; 67.
Welcomes the fact that some Member States have included sports in their national recovery and resilience plans;
68.
Calls on the Commission to provide data on sports-related investments and reforms in its review report on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which is to be presented to Parliament and the Council in 2022; 69.
Welcomes the higher budget for sport under the current Erasmus+ programme and supports further synergies between funds and programmes such as EU4Health and LIFE; underlines that the removal of all obstacles in the application process at national level is key in order to make better use of these tools to support the recovery in sport; 70.
Regrets the absence of an explicit reference to sport in the EU4Health programme regulation;
71.
Urges the EU institutions to considerably increase the budget dedicated to grassroots sport under the Erasmus+ programme in the next financial programming period; 72.
Stresses the need to further increase funding for sport, also beyond the Erasmus+ programme, in a targeted manner with a focus on the social dimension of sport, particularly in grassroots sports; 73.
Highlights the importance of preparatory actions and pilot projects in the field of sport which provide additional funding for grassroots sport and give promising results; 74.
Calls on the Commission to increase the number of accepted pilot projects and preparatory actions in the field of sport; 75.
Highlights the need to support sports tourism as one of the means to boost the recovery and resilience of the sport sector after COVID-19; 76.
Recalls the importance of protecting traditional sports and promoting them with adequate funding as part of European cultural heritage and regional identity; 77.
Calls on national, regional and local authorities to recognise the key role of sport and physical activity in fields such as urban regeneration, tourism and territorial cohesion and to encourage relevant investments under EU cohesion policy, specifically with regard to the European Social Fund Plus, the European Regional and Development Fund and the Recovery and Resilience Facility; 78.
Calls on the Commission to encourage the use of REACT-EU funding for projects related to sports infrastructure, provided that it is sustainable, contributes to long-term economic recovery and supports tourism; 79.
Draws the attention of the Commission and the managing authorities to the important role of small sports clubs and associations and highlights the lack of human and material resources available to them for accessing European funding and targeted support; 80.
Calls on the Member States to consider applying the lowest possible rate of VAT to the sports sector as one of the tools to facilitate access to its services in the wake of COVID-19; 81.
Calls on the Commission to develop a methodology for defining the criteria for measuring and monitoring the social impact of sports-related projects together with all relevant stakeholders including civil society, social partners and public authorities, and to regularly update and present data on the social impact of sport; 82.
Urges the Commission and the Member States to regularly update and present data on the economic impact of sport;