IESF in EU Parliament, Brussels, contributing to future Erasmus+ Sport Programme

Lorenz Fiege im EU Parlament

In Decemeber 2025, the IESF highlighted the importance of evidence-based and comparative research work as part of the future Erasmus+ Sport Programme (2028-2034) in the European Parliament.

Participating on behalf of the Institute of European Sport Development and Leisure Studies (IESF) and the German Sport University Cologne, in his intervention, Lorenz emphasised the need to incorporate and re-consolidate evidence-based scientific research in the new Programme guidelines and to establish a greater earmarked budget share for sports at EU-level (at a minimum 5-7%) in the upcoming household negotiations:

Some of our key claims and arguments include:

  • The Erasmus+ Sport Programme has the power to contribute to the rebalancing of the economic/commercial and social welfare dimensions of the European integration process as a whole, which seems ever more important at a time when our societies become older, more polarised, and socially divided by internal and external political threats with little room for solidarity, inclusion, and integrity – values that are actually at the core of the European dimension in sport.
  • Academic research within the scope of Erasmus+ is one of the programme’s core societal values and should be substantiated as such also in the future. And especially the Sport chapter is currently underpinned by a unique intertwining of academia, civil society, and sport organisations in which empirical research, critical policy reflection, and practical reforms may go hand in hand. This should be preserved and expanded in the new programme.
  • Only through systematic, methodologically controlled comparative research across the European continent would we be able to reliably determine:
    • Under what social and political conditions sport actually develops its potential inclusive, democracy-promoting, and peacebuilding effects;
    • How greater participation in and through sport can be achieved, for example, to unfold the many health-promoting effects of physical activity;
    • How (good) governance structures can be designed to promote sporting excellence, integrity, and social responsibility.
    • Without a solid empirical basis, there would be a risk that sport policy will be based on individual cases, untested assumptions, or short-term moods and that it will be difficult to align – let alone to harmonise – across Europe. Moreover, without normative research approaches, salient power struggles and fundamental rights issues would often remain sidelined, at the expense of vulnerable target groups, such as athletes and coaches.
    • Evidence-based research enables all stakeholders to design measures that are not only well-intentioned, but also impact-oriented, critically re-evaluated, and thereby, needs-based and sustainable. In this way, it makes an essential contribution to placing the European dimension of sport on a sound, transparent, and critically reflective empirical basis. 

Hence, summed up, when aspiring to shape further a future European Sport Model which lives up to its key features – such as democracy, inclusion, and solidarity as conceptualised by the recently adopted Parliamentary resolution – advanced comparative data, evidence based policy making, and critical analysis of the economic, political, and cultural developments in the European sport sector are pivotal. Moreover, without adequate budget increases, we will be stuck in an unfavourable scenario in which, firstly, participation levels and social cohesion in and through grassroots sport decrease, and secondly, the economic exploitation of the elite sport sector overrides the social dimensions of sport and underlying integrity and welfare standards.       

The full script of his speech can be accessed here.

Once again, a special thanks to Mr. Zdrojewski and his office for inviting us and for giving us the opportunity to actively participate in the stakeholder dialogue on the new Erasmus+ Sport chapter.

We are much looking forward to the further consultation process and the Parliament’s reaction to the Commission Proposal in the upcoming months!