The Governing Board is invited on a yearly basis to approve the Support and Follow-up schedule for the following year.

The list of host countries is drawn on the basis of the following elements:

• New EPAS members;
• Ministerial meeting hosts;
• Countries holding the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers;
• Countries who volunteer to participate;
• Major sporting event hosts;
• Outcome of the European Sports Charter questionnaire.

The Support and Follow-up team consists of a maximum of 6 members, including 2 members of the Governing Board, 1 member of the Consultative Committee and members of the Secretariat of the Council of Europe, and any additional person where needed.

Overview of the implementation of the ESC in EPAS member states

  Monaco

ESC implementation overview trends

  Presentation made by Diana Santos at the 19th plenary meeting of EPAS on 15 May 2025

  Methodology of the implementation of the ESC

  Host country questionnaire

  Host country check list

The Governing Board decided at its 16th meeting (13-14 June 2022) to set up a Working Group tasked with developing proposals on supporting the implementation of the European Sports Charter (ESC), i.e. strategic guidance, evaluation visits, questionnaire with key indicators, criteria for organising visits, work plan, factsheets, etc. 
 

Article 20 of the ESC reads as follows:

“Article 20 – Support and follow-up to the implementation of the Charter

1. The Council of Europe as a whole and other international organisations should be encouraged to use sport as a vehicle to promote values and to mainstream sport in strategies and action plans.
2. To facilitate the promotion and the implementation of this Charter, relevant stakeholders should be invited to pledge for the implementation of the Charter in their policies, strategies and programmes.
3. At European level, it is important to review progress and support the implementation of the Charter, in particular to guarantee the positive impact of sport on health, inclusion and education, to maximise its potential to promote a dynamic civil society as well as a culture of human rights, the rule of law, democratic governance and sustainability, and to fight threats to sports integrity. The Council of Europe’s Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport should be used to assess and promote progress in the implementation of the Charter, including by:
   • facilitating the exchange of information and good practices;
   • holding thematic exchanges on issues pertaining to the Charter;
   • collecting and publishing information to monitor the implementation of the Charter;
   • supporting the promotion and implementation of the Charter through regular multilateral and country-specific activities.”

Specific tasks

The mandate of the Working Group contained different dimensions and it was decided that the first priority would be to further enhance and improve the current methodology for the implementation of the ESC through country-specific activities.

The second priority was to develop a strategy to support member states in the promotion of the ESC within their country.

Finally, the Group explored the possibility of including an ESC Index inspired in part by the Intercultural cities programme of the Council of Europe.
 

The Working Group completed its mandate at the end of 2025.