France is to push ahead with plans for a European “super regulator” for sport at a EU meeting this week, despite a growing chorus of complaint led by Britain.
UK newspaper The Times reports that Gerry Sutcliffe, the UK Sports Minister, is told his French counterpart, Bernard Laporte that he would insist on the right of national federations to stay in control.
“I welcome the French presidency’s emphasis on sport and agree with the vast majority of the proposals being put forward for discussion at the meeting in Biarritz,” Sutcliffe told the paper. “The important thing is to protect the autonomy of sport and the ability of national governing bodies to govern properly. We would not support any potential proposal for an EU-wide financial regulator for football as this is a step too far.”
Sutcliffe also won surprise backing yesterday from Michel Platini, the Uefa president, against the plan proposed by President Nicolas Sarkozy for a “level playing field” across Europe. Platini, long suspected as the driving force behind moves to create a European version of La Direction Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion, the French national regulator for football, in fact backs Richard Scudamore, the chief executive of the Premier League, according to the European governing body.
William Gaillard, the Uefa director of communications and special adviser to Platini, told The Times: “Michel Platini has made it clear we do not believe there should be a regulator in Europe that regulates national leagues, because that is the job of each national association. Uefa regulates our competitions, Fifa regulates theirs and national associations regulate national competitions.
“We also do not want another level of bureaucracy — we already have a licensing system and we feel this is the best way to engineer more financial transparency. We do not believe it would be legal for us to intervene in national competitions and Michel Platini has made it clear he agrees with Richard Scudamore when he says there should not be a European agency.”
Opponents of the French plans fear that they would wreck British football by imposing much tighter financial red tape on clubs. Laporte is nevertheless expected to raise the matter for discussion at the EU meeting and may attempt to include some general principles about financial regulation in the summit’s conclusions.
Although these would carry no legal weight, because the EU has no formal power to set sports regulations, his opponents are determined not to let the principle enter into any kind of ministerial document at EU level.
