On 25-26 June, a team of Council of Europe experts carried out a support and follow-up visit to Athens to further the implementation of the European Sports Charter (ESC) within Greek policies and practices. The ESC is the Council of Europe standard which lays down the basic principles for national sports policies, allowing governments to support and provide opportunities for the practice of sport for all, under well-defined conditions.

The team met with key stakeholders playing an active role in the implementation of values-based sport in Greece, starting by the Alternate Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sport, Ioannis Vroutsis, as well as the Deputy Minister of Health, Marios Themistokleousas, the Secretary General of Sport, George Mavrotas, the Olympic and Paralympic Committees, sports federations, non-organised sport, athletes, the private sector, and other relevant actors. These meetings were complemented by visits to notable sports facilities, including the Athens Olympic Stadium.

This visit was part of the mandate of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS), which supports the implementation of the ESC among its member states on an annual basis.

The EPAS team was composed of Satu Heikkinen (Finland) and Michael Landau (Monaco) members of the EPAS Governing Board, Jens Sejer Andersen (Play the Game), member of the EPAS Consultative Committee, Diana Santos (University Leiria) and two members of the Secretariat. The findings, recommendations, and good practices identified during the visit will be gathered in a report to be transmitted to the Greek authorities for the implementation of its tailored recommendations. The adopted report will be made available to the public in 2025 on our website.

In addition to the main visit, a half-day awareness raising workshop on sport governance was held on 27 June, co-organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and EPAS, and hosted by the Hellenic Olympic Committee with support from the Greek Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports. The workshop aimed to raise awareness of the International Partnership against Corruption in Sport (IPACS) benchmark and its guidelines, and to encourage its implementation within the Greek sports community.