There is still some way to go. Three years after the entry into force of the Braillard law of 1is March 2017, aiming to strengthen the ethics and transparency of professional sport, the two deputies responsible for evaluating its application and its effectiveness, Régis Juanico, deputy for Loire (Génération s) and Cédric Roussel, deputy for Alpes-Maritimes (LREM) delivered their report on Wednesday morning to the National Assembly’s Committee on Cultural Affairs and Education. Sexual violence, club competitiveness, under-represented women’s sport… The issues surrounding this law are multiple. And the bottom line is “Halftone”, they announce.
If the Braillard law allowed “Significant advances in the field of ethics”, Régis Juanico advances before the Commission, she “Does not offer tools which, as they stand, fundamentally make it possible to remedy the competitiveness deficit from which French professional sport suffers in the face of international competition”. MEPs therefore call for a “Act 2” of the law to further support the measures already in place and supplement them with 27 new proposals.
Yellow card for recalcitrant federations
Among these proposals, most are intended to strengthen the mechanisms around the ethics of sport. The room for improvement is important. According to the report, which is based on the latest figures from the Ministry of Sports collected in early July, nearly 20% of federations (13 out of 75) do not comply with the obligation to create a charter and an ethics and deontology. The “culprits”, not named by the evaluation mission, are mainly federations “With few licensees”. However, the latter had until December 31, 2017 to comply with the law.
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“It is a yellow warning card for the federations which have not joined”, explains Cédric Roussel. The deputies wish to entrust the Ministry of Sports with the responsibility of controlling the establishment of the charter and of the ethics and professional conduct committee. The goal: to be able to sanction federations that do not comply with the rules by setting up “A graduated scale of sanctions that can go as far as the withdrawal of the State delegation”. This very rarely applied sanction would prohibit the federation in question from organizing French, regional or departmental championships, and from officially representing the country in competitions abroad.
Generalization of controls
An important part of the report consists of the generalization of controls around sports players. The Braillard law now requires sports leaders to file a declaration of assets and interests. A measure judged “effective” according to the two rapporteurs, but which remains to be completed. As of July 10, only one leader had not filed the declarations required of officials of sports federations (out of 79 federations concerned) according to the High Authority for Transparency and Public Life (HATVP). The latter, however, specifies that it was “Constrained to proceed to 59 reminders in order to obtain this result”. MEPs propose to extend these compulsory controls to members of the national management control directorates (DNCG), independent bodies responsible for monitoring the finances of professional clubs.
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Besides the financial aspect, “We are taking advantage of this evaluation to enrich the text in order to strengthen the prevention of violence in sport, adds Cédric Roussel. We plead for a cross-referencing of federal files so that all supervisors, volunteers or not, are checked if they are in contact with young practitioners ”. MEPs also propose the establishment of “Ethical referents” within federations “Responsible for advising and evaluating the procedures and systems relating to the prevention of violence”. The figures of the cell of the Ministry of Sports devoted to the collection of reports of sexual violence are significant. At 1is June, 177 suspected perpetrators were identified. Nearly 90 legal proceedings were underway concerning these cases, 16 people were then imprisoned and among the victims, 98% are minors, specified the Minister Delegate in charge of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, on 1is July at a press conference.
Promoting women’s sport
In addition to the proposals aimed at improving the economy of sport in general (regulation of the activities of sports agents, control of financial flows of clubs, repression of rigged bets, extension of the loan guarantee of local authorities, etc.), one of the pillars of the work of the two deputies is based on the promotion of women’s sport. “It is a question of allowing women’s sport to take its full place in the sport economy, without necessarily reproducing a model which today falters” can we read in the report.
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Régis Juanico and Cédric Roussel question the effectiveness of the “permanent conference on women’s sport” created by the law of 1is March 2017 and attached to the Ministry of Sports. “After three years, there were only three meetings, deplores Cédric Roussel. This structure needs to come alive, to move from a support group to an action group. ” MEPs therefore advocate the appointment of a vice-president responsible for effective management. To support this work, the rapporteurs also propose the establishment of a financial penalty by the National Sports Agency, which would thus sanction federations not respecting the “Commitments made within the framework of feminization plans”.
The objective of these proposals is to feed the future “sport and society” law on which Roxana Maracineanu has been working for two years now. But if “The urgency of the economic recovery plan does not exclude sport”, according to Cédric Roussel, the parliamentary calendar remains relatively undecided since the health crisis and debates around sport in the Assembly will have to wait at least for the parliamentary term.
Julie Renson Miquel
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