European People’s Party addresses IOC and European Council calling for a ban on Russian and Belarussian athletes in Paris 2024

European People’s Party addresses IOC and European Council calling for a ban on Russian and Belarussian athletes in Paris 2024

On 3 April the European People’s Party (EPP) published a statement condemning the IOC’s recommendations to allow Russian and Belarussian athletes to compete in international sports competitions as neutral athletes if they comply with a set of conditions including not being affiliated to the army or actively supportive of the war against Ukraine. EPP calls for a ban of Russian and Belarussian athletes for the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris 2024.

The EPP stated that “more than half of the medals that Russia took home at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were awarded to Russian athletes whose background is linked to the Central Sports Club of the Army” and were consequently linked to the crimes committed by the Russian Army in Ukraine. Furthermore, the EPP argues that it would be “usual for dictators and authoritarian regimes to weaponize sports to expand their influence”, as has already been done with Russia’s state-sponsored doping-programme.

The statement concludes by calling the IOC out on failure of compliance with shared values by “turning a blind eye to tens of thousands of Ukrainian casualties, many of them innocent civilians”. With regard to European leaders, it is stated that a “huge majority of European lawmakers qualified Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and called for its international isolation” and therefore the EPP calls “upon European Leaders to support excluding Russian and Belarussian athletes from all international athletic competitions”.

Recent Posts

SAFE HARBOUR consortium convened to deepen understanding of safeguarding challenges

On 14 May, the SAFE HARBOUR consortium convened for the project’s second Peer-to-peer (P2P) Roundtable and third Monthly Consortium Meeting (MCM). As a key element of the project’s collaborative framework, the P2P Roundtable focused on identifying challenges in implementing safeguarding policies, while promoting the exchange of lessons learned and best practices to strengthen safeguarding protocols […]

Read More
EOC EU Office’s Annual Partners Meeting: the future of European funding for sport in the next Multiannual Financial Framework

On 14 and 15 May, the EOC EU Office hosted the Annual Partners Meeting. On the first day, partners of the EOC EU Office received comprehensive updates on EU funding programmes and opportunities. A discussion with Luciano di Fonzo (Education and Culture Executive Agency, EACEA) provided partners with valuable insights into the expected evolution of […]

Read More
OCEAN Final Conference: Empowering sport organisations with resources for continuous climate action

On 13 May, the EOC EU Office hosted the Final Conference of the OCEAN project, bringing together over 100 representatives from sport organisations, sustainability experts, Olympic stakeholders, and European institutions. The conference celebrated the achievements of the project and showcased the resources developed in collaboration with 18 National Olympic Committees, International Olympic Committee (IOC), the […]

Read More

Related Posts

May 16, 2025
SAFE HARBOUR consortium convened to deepen understanding of safeguarding challenges

On 14 May, the SAFE HARBOUR consortium convened for the project’s second Peer-to-peer (P2P) Roundtable and third Monthly Consortium Meeting (MCM). As a key element of the project’s collaborative framework, the P2P Roundtable focused on identifying challenges in implementing safeguarding policies, while promoting the exchange of lessons learned and best practices to strengthen safeguarding protocols […]

May 16, 2025
EOC EU Office’s Annual Partners Meeting: the future of European funding for sport in the next Multiannual Financial Framework

On 14 and 15 May, the EOC EU Office hosted the Annual Partners Meeting. On the first day, partners of the EOC EU Office received comprehensive updates on EU funding programmes and opportunities. A discussion with Luciano di Fonzo (Education and Culture Executive Agency, EACEA) provided partners with valuable insights into the expected evolution of […]

May 16, 2025
OCEAN Final Conference: Empowering sport organisations with resources for continuous climate action

On 13 May, the EOC EU Office hosted the Final Conference of the OCEAN project, bringing together over 100 representatives from sport organisations, sustainability experts, Olympic stakeholders, and European institutions. The conference celebrated the achievements of the project and showcased the resources developed in collaboration with 18 National Olympic Committees, International Olympic Committee (IOC), the […]

About us

The EOC EU Office is the House of European Sport, representing the European Olympic Committees (EOC), the IOC and other major sport organisations to the European institutions in Brussels.
CONTACT
crossmenu linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram