On June 13 and 14, the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission organised a conference entitled ‘The Advantages of practicing sport in an organised environment for people with fewer opportunities’. The event was held in Mamaia/Constanta, Romania, with active participation of the European University Sports Association (EUSA).

The host of the meeting, the Romanian Ministry of Youth and Sports, chose the topic to approach the role of sport, as set in the 2017 Declaration of Rome, promoting social Europe. The theme was also linked with the overarching motto of the Romanian Presidency, which concludes at the end of the month: ‘Cohesion, a common European value’.

The conference was opened by the Romanian Minister of Youth and Sport Mr Bogdan Matei and the Head of the Sport Unit in the European Commission Mr Yves Le Lostecque. After the keynote speech by former Olympian Ms Gabriela Szabo, a panel on the social role of sport, focusing on inclusion through sport for people with fewer opportunities, concluded the first day.



The second day of the conference composed of two workshops: one on the benefits of sport for children and young people at risk and another which focused on the organised sport in disadvantaged areas. EUSA, represented by its Communications and Projects Manager Mr Andrej Pisl, highlighted the importance of diversity, inclusion and safe sport, with special focus on its experiences on inclusion of students with disabilities at the European Universities Games, development programmes, as well as sharing some good practice examples of the association’s Erasmus+ projects.

The event concluded with the summaries of moderator’s reports on the discussions over the previous two days, remarks by Mr Alexandru Epuran from the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee on promoting tolerance through sport, and closing words by the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports Ms Cristina Andronic.

For more information, please see https://www.romania2019.eu/home/.