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  22/7-2008 Social Dialogue in the Football Sector Nedenstående er Ole Christensens tale ved starten for social dialog i fodbolden. Ole Christensen er medlem af Europaparlamentet for Socialdemokraterne. Ever since pre-historic times, sport has been a very important factor in Europe. In ancient Greece, we know the first Olympic Games took place more than 750 years before Christ. According to historians the Olympic Games was very prestigious and widely known throughout Greece. The athels competing was seen as heroes and had many fans. Today, the Olympic ideal is that through sport we can promote peace and understanding between different nations and cultures. Through sport we teach our children values such as team spirit, solidarity, tolerance and fair play. The most popular sport in the EU is without a doubt football. We enjoy it at many levels. I my self used to play in a local club in Denmark, and later I coached also at local level. Besides actively playing football, many more people enjoy watching football, either from the sideline or at home in front of the television. It brings us together with our neighbours at home when our local club wins the national championship, and it brings us together as nations when we compete in the big tournaments such as the Champions' League or the European Championship. But sport is not only about having fun and getting exercise. Today, there is a lot of money in professional sport. A study from 2006 shows, that 3.7% of the total GDP in the EU, the same as 407 billion Euros, is created in sport. The study also shows that approximately 15 million people or the same as 5.4%, of the total workforce in the EU is somehow occupied in sport. Today sport is a very big industry, and in this industry football is one of the biggest sectors. When we think professional footballers we often think of names such as: Michael Ballack and Christiano Ronaldo. But those names are only a few among many unknown professional football players. These players, without billion Euro contracts, face some of the same problems and challenges as the rest of the people in the EU. They are concerned about what will happen to their income if they get injured and unemployed, and they are concerned about having enough pension savings so that they can retire one day with a reasonable future in sight. To expand a safety net under these less fortunate players we are in need of a system that will insure the most basic rights. Footballers in less developed parts of Europe have toiled under unacceptable conditions for too long. In too many European countries it has been a common practice to treat footballers as a commodity – rather than an asset that needs proper treatment and fundamental rights. I am therefore delighted that the football community is taking its responsibility seriously by finding a constructive and progressive method to change this practice for the better. Today, the football organisations grant themselves a unique opportunity to shape the sport of the future through an array of essential principles. By defining a set of minimum requirements, the football parties will commit each other to insure common privileges and obligations. Minimum requirements are the corner stone of all collective bargaining agreements and will prove to be an effective tool to elevate football into a fully modern industry with corresponding rights for footballers in all European countries. Last year, the European Commission put forward a long awaited white paper on sport. The white paper contains the importance of the role sport plays in the EU today. The white paper also deals with some of the problems and challenges exiting in sport now and maybe even more in the future. In particular the white paper mentions the importance of the protection of minors in sport and problems with corruption, money laundering and doping. Issues related to the relationship between the media and sport is also mentioned. Finally, the white paper emphasises the importance of a structured dialogue, especially a social dialogue. The aforementioned minimum requirements are one of the key elements in the process of making this social dialogue a success. In the European Parliament, where I am a member, we were very pleased to finally see this white paper on sport. We made our own report as a response to the white paper and we also suggested some amendments. One of the most important amendments we adopted was the amendment stating that under no circumstances can we accept the FIFA 6+5 proposal. This FIFA proposal would mean that during a match there has to be at least 6 players on each team on the field from the clubs' countries of origin. In the EU, we have very strict and very good legislation to make sure that we cannot discriminate based on nationality. Previously, we have had a ruling in the EC court concerning the issue of discrimination, the so called "Bosman case". In the Bosman case, the Belgian player Jean-Marc Bosman sued his old Club F.C. Liège for using the existing FIFA rules demanding money for his engagement with a new club even though his contract with F.C. Liège had expired. The EC court was very clear in its judgement: This was not legal - all football players should be considered and treated as any other employee in the EU. The 6+5 FIFA proposal is an example of discrimination based on nationality and thus it is unacceptable for me and my colleagues in the European Parliament. Talent is the very pipeline of the football economy and must therefore be kept in a constant flow and progress. In the future, the big challenge will thus be to adopt an approach that will improve the development of young, talented players without compromising the principles of EU legislation. But apart from the legal angle, the ethical angle must also be emphasized. The European Comission has expressed a positive view on UEFA’s proposal of homegrown players However, within this proposal there is a potential risk of more trading with young football talents. When for example a young talented boy from Spain is bought by a club in the Netherlands there are several factors we should not forget. We take a boy away from his family, his friends and his country and because he is not an adult it is very important that we do not treat him as such. Social dialogue is the foundation for what is known as the flexicurity model. Flexicurity roughly means that there is flexibility for the employers to hire and fire as well as for the employee to change jobs. Security means that the employee is financially secured in case he or she is left unemployed. This model is the one used in all sectors in the Nordic countries. The key to this model is the right balance between the social partners. Is the balance off, the social dialogue is not working the way it was intended. If the social dialogue is carried out in the correct, balanced way there are many benefits. It is a benefit to both players and to the clubs if they can agree on most issues without the interference of, for example, national authorities. It is by far better if the two partners involved can solve problems and take responsibility through the social dialogue. Personally I started working for a social dialogue in this sector back in 2004. Back then I sent a letter asking the European Commission to look into the possibility of establishing a social dialogue in the European professional football sector. The Commission's answer was that if the partners representing the clubs and the players expressed a desire for such a dialogue the Commission would support it. I see this launch of a social dialogue in the professional football sector as a great opportunity, but we cannot forget that it is also a challenge. It is crucial that the dialogue is balanced. If it is not a balanced social dialogue it can cause more damage than good. If the football clubs stand too strongly against the unions the losers will be the football players. The intention with this social dialogue is first and foremost better communication and better conditions for the players. I see this social dialogue as a great opportunity to discuss some of these very important issues related to the cross-border trading of children in professional football. We owe these children some joint, ethical standards and through this social dialogue we have a new opportunity to secure that these children are not treated as adults and that they are not taken advantage of. I recommend the partners of the social dialogue never to forget the importance of balance in the dialogue. And I recommend them never to put money over people in this business - ethical standards are crucial to this sport. I welcome this social dialogue and I have great expectations that it can make working professionally in the football sector much better in the future for all parties involved. Paris, 1. juli 2008 |
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