On 6 May, 40 representatives of EOC EU Office’s partners gathered face-to-face in Brussels and online for the Annual Partners Meeting. This meeting was an opportunity for the EOC EU Office to inform the NOCs and sports federations about current developments with regards to EU policies and EU funding. Notably, information was provided about the current and upcoming EU presidencies, EU sanctions against Russia, EU legislative developments in environmental matters, the unfolding of Erasmus+ Key Action 1 Mobility of sport staff, ongoing Erasmus+ projects (GAMES and OCEAN) and other EU funding opportunities available for NOCs and federations. Partners had the opportunity to set out the issues they would like to see discussed further at European level in the context of the preparation of the EU Work Plan for Sport 2024-2028 and the forthcoming European elections. As a topic of recent focus, Vincent Pereira Head of Esports at the IOC presented its strategy on Esports, ahead of the Olympic Esports Week, after which partners discussed the opportunities and challenges represented by Esports in relation to traditional sport.
The meeting concluded with a presentation of some of the partner NOCs’ activities and of the EOC EU Office’s upcoming services until the end of 2023.