At the initiative of Mr Bogdan Wenta, Member of the European Parliament, a unified stand was made in Brussels on 5 June 2018 by EU Commissioner Mr Navracsics, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Ms Battaini-Dragoni, and Ministers responsible for sport from Bulgaria, Denmark (via video conference) and Slovenia, respectively Mr Kralev, Ms Bock and Ms Makovec Brenčič, of the urgent necessity to enter the Macolin Convention on manipulations of sports competitions into force .

The unanimous position, taken together with representatives of IOC, UEFA, INTERPOL, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the UK Gambling Commission, GLMS and Kindred Group at the EU Parliament is a strong move forward, increasing the pressure on European institutions to find a solution to the procedural deadlock that presently prevents EU member states from ratifying the Macolin Convention, and a call to members states to propose political solutions. The messages were also an encouragement to EU member states to continue developing their national platforms within the framework of the Macolin Convention and to join the network of National Platforms created by the Council of Europe (Group of Copenhagen) in order to enhance structured national and transnational co-operation.

Participants were informed about the direct follow-up which will be given to this appeal during the “3^rd International Conference on the fight against sports manipulations” to be held in Strasbourg on 24-25 September 2018, which will concretely enhance how the national platforms need a coherent international legislative framework to sustain their efforts.