Check against delivery

I’m going to see if I can use my 5 minutes to make 4 brief points. 

First, the crisis in sport is part of a much wider trust crisis in our societies

The Council of Europe helps our member states develop the right laws, institutions and norms to ensure democracy and, therefore, stability.

But today, across Europe and in many parts of the world, citizens are losing confidence in the institutions meant to serve them. Parliaments, governments, courts, the media, the banks.

And sport too – where scandal after scandal has eroded people’s faith in the heroes they worship and the competitions they love.

Institution after institution has fallen in the public’s estimation. And it is feeding a climate of frustration and disillusionment, which in turn gives rise to populism, anger and fragmentation in our societies.

I say this because it is only by recognising that sport is part of this wider trust crisis that we can understand how urgently we must show progress in tackling the corruption it suffers.  

Second, when it comes to reform, the window of opportunity will not stay open forever.  

I do not wish to downplay the many laudable steps to clean up sport which have been taken by individuals and organisations represented here. There has been a lot of honest soul-searching; sets of principles agreed; precise indicators developed; the IOC has reformed certain aspects of the way in which it functions; a number of countries now monitor compliance with good governance principles.

But we have to be candid: we’ve been talking about good governance and tackling corruption for 12 years. Yet the scandals keep coming. Fans, spectators and civil society still do not believe that governments are doing their utmost to tackle criminal activity. And the Universal Good Governance Principles have not had the transformative effect on the processes and culture of international sports organisations that many had hoped.

There is only so long that the public will wait. Especially given the mood today. If we want to win people back, we have to accelerate reform.

Third, if we are going to rebuild trust in sport, we have to trust each other. 

There are some who believe that, while we can all talk a good game on sports integrity, we will struggle to deliver fundamental reform – because there are too many of us. Too many different institutions, with too many different interests, pulling in too many directions.

I do not accept this. On the contrary, the diversity of the actors involved in this mission can be a great strength – if it is properly harnessed.

Only governments can ensure that their country’s laws allow for effective investigations into corruption allegations, and that law enforcement and justice authorities have the means to prosecute and sanction wrongdoing. Governments also have a special role over the sports organisations based in their territory, in particular national sports organisations. They have unique tools at their disposal: the law; the regulatory framework, and a whole range of incentives to shape behaviour, including making public subsidies conditional on good governance.

Only the sports organisations, international and national, can ensure a culture of good governance and compliance with strict principles. They have the power to lead by example, earning their autonomy through operating transparently and driving concrete reform.

And only international institutions can facilitate cross-border co-operation, based on shared standards. Not just the Council of Europe, but also the EU, the UN Agencies, the OECD and Interpol. We can help close the gaps and loopholes which criminals exploit. That’s precisely what my colleague Snezana was speaking about earlier when she described our Match-fixing convention.

We have Conventions to harmonise international efforts to combat spectator violence and doping too.

The truth is that none of us can tackle corruption in sport alone. Together, however, we are an almighty force. But we have to trust each other. We have to remember that we are part of the same team. And that’s why I would like to thank the IOC for bringing us here, to help foster that trust.  

Fourth, the CoE wants to help make the International Sport Integrity Partnership a success.

On other issues – spectator violence, anti-doping, match-fixing – we have established strong dialogue and well-organised co-operation, based on common standards. The same is now needed for corruption and good governance.

The International Sport Integrity Partnership is a promising vehicle for this aim, and we want to see it succeed.

The Partnership does not need to be rigid or overly bureaucratic, but its own governance and the role of the partners should be clarified. 

We should set ourselves the task of establishing a platform which maximises dialogue and co-operation, based on shared standards which have been agreed, consensually, by all stakeholders. When we brought together Sports Ministers from across our member states with representatives from the sporting world, including the IOC, they adopted a declaration explicitly welcoming the Partnership as an initiative which could ‘allow for recognition by governments and the sports movement of common benchmarks on good governance in sport’. As our experience from match-fixing and anti-doping shows, such common benchmarks are essential for effective co-operation. 

The Partnership should be inclusive. It should involve government representatives from all the continents and all of the international organisations concerned. On the side of sport, we must also involve a broad range of organisations, including those which are not directly part of the Olympic family.

And the Partnership should be transparent. Where it reviews the anti-corruption and good governance efforts of governments and sports organisations, the detailed results of its evaluations and recommendations should be shared. Making them anonymous or confidential will not help rebuild trust in sport. It will do the opposite.

The Council of Europe is ready to do everything we can to make the Partnership a success.

We have long experience in tackling wrongdoing in sport. And we have long experience in addressing corruption in our member states, through setting and monitoring the right standards. I should mention that GRECO, our ant-corruption body, is in fact looking at private sector corruption, including in sport, at the moment. It will assess how well countries are applying their criminal law provisions in this area.

We bring 47 governments to the table. Through EPAS, our Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport, we are currently advising our governments on their good governance models, as well as sharing best practice.

We also bring parliamentarians to the table. Indeed, our influential Parliamentary Assembly is producing its own report on good governance and anti-corruption in sport.

We want to use this rich experience and our wide reach to make the Partnership an effective platform: credible, trusted, jointly owned, and able to drive reform based on common standards. And we hope that this meeting helps set it on that path.