Towards an EU Sport Diplomacy - Building a shared framework
▶Summary
Background In a context where sport has become a powerful soft power tool, the European Union has developed since 2015 its own reflection on the implementation of a dedicated EU Sport diplomacy, focusing on different objectives towards the European population as well as towards external actors. Following recommendations made by a High Level group in Sport diplomacy to Commissioner Tibor Navracsics in 2016, various actions have been implemented to pursue this reflection. This project aims to pursue it; Objectives The TES-D project aims to (1) create a network and stimulate long-term exchanges between key stakeholders ( policy makers, diplomats, academics, sports organisations and athletes) interested by the challenges between sport and diplomacy at European level thanks to a training tool.(2) formulate concrete policy recommendations to keep pushing the reflections initiated since 2016. The production of reports and the implementations of 5 pilot actions have also allowed to refine the recommendations. Implementation This project ran from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2022, bringing together 8 partners from 7 countries Coordinated by the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS, France), this project gathered - ISCA (Denmark), - UNEFS (Romania), - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy), - Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium),- University Carlos III of Madrid (Spain), - Edge Hill University (UK) and- SOAS University then Leeds University (United Kingdom). Achievements For this project, (1) 32 Reports were published: a literature review; 2 case studies on sport diplomacy among international organisations, outside the EU and on non-EU Sport Diplomacy; 1 report on the development of a EU sport diplomacy; 27 reports on national sport diplomacy; 1 final report with recommendations;(2) 5 pilot actions implemented;(3) 3 multiplier sport events to discuss about the concept and increase the knowledge of this issue;4) a training tool created