Sport means money
As head of the European Commission’s sport unit, Michael Krejza has to cover several areas of European law
It may be fun and games, but there is a lot more at stake in the European sporting field than just goals or points. Sport means money – which is why, from its base in the directorate-general for education and culture, the European Commission’s sport unit finds itself embroiled in a surprising range of policies.
“In most EU member states, sport is around 2% of total GDP and more than 2% of total employment,” says Michal Krejza, head of the unit. “For comparison, that’s more than agriculture and fisheries combined.” As a result, sport’s writ runs into many of areas of EU law – the acquis communautaire. “Whenever the acquis is involved, then we are the main counterpart for colleagues in other parts of the Commission. We contribute the specialised knowledge about sport.”
For example, international football transfers have to comply with rules on the free movement of workers; anti-doping regulations must align with EU frameworks for data protection and human rights.
Similarly, the internal market covers betting on sporting events, and European law would not turn a blind eye to international match-fixing. In addition, the EU has a supporting competence for sport under the Lisbon treaty. This means Krejza’s unit has taken on responsibility for areas of sport that governments think can be addressed most effectively at the EU level.
Health and wellbeing
His biggest dossier under the treaty involves promoting physical activity to encourage a healthier European workforce. Guidelines have been drawn up for national policies, for example encouraging regular exercise or allowing doctors to prescribe physical activity in the same way that they dispense drugs. Next year the Commission will put forward its first Council recommendation on sport, and, from 2014, sport will get its first dedicated EU budget line.
But it is a legal minefield rather than a level playing-field. The sport unit’s wide-ranging scope means that it needs people with a thorough understanding of EU law – a higher priority than sporting knowledge. They have to be able to co-operate credibly with specialists in other parts of the Commission and develop the evidence base to support a relatively new policy domain. “When we recruit new colleagues, the key issue is knowledge about the acquis,” Krejza says. “It is easier to learn about sport than to learn to understand the acquis in a horizontal way.”
His own background is indeed in law. Born in Prague, he left Czechoslovakia at a young age with his parents after the Prague Spring of 1968. He grew up and completed his education in the Netherlands, but was drawn back to his homeland after the Communist regime fell in 1989.
“Demand for Czech-speaking western lawyers was almost unlimited,” he says. He worked in the last Czechoslovak and first Czech parliaments, then moved to the newly-established Commission delegation in Prague. This began a 20-year career with the institution, both in foreign delegations and in Brussels, mainly dealing with enlargement issues but also topics such as employment.
When the position heading the sport unit came up, Krejza was attracted by the range of legal issues involved. However, before the Lisbon treaty, the unit was something of a backwater. “Six years ago it was indeed rather marginal, because we were not sure whether the proposed competence for sport would enter into force,” he recalls. “So from a career perspective that was certainly a bit of a gamble. But it paid off.”
And what of his own sporting prowess? “I get this question quite a lot,” he says. “I think I’m doing reasonably well in terms of health-enhancing physical activity. I cycle to work and my children keep me busy. But unfortunately this job is so busy it prevents me engaging in organised sport. Maybe that is a good idea for active ageing at some point later in life.”
Ian Mundell is a freelance journalist based in Brussels.
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