Abandoning hopes for veto power: Institutional options for sport’s governing bodies in the EU

Meier Henk Erik, Garcia Garcia Borja

Zusammenfassung

For a long time, sport's governing bodies have put high hopes in a consideration of sport in the EU Treaties. Ideally, such a sport consideration should not only entitle the sport bodies to get access to the EU budget but, more important, attach more weight to political considerations of sport specificity in proceedings before the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). While the Treaty of Lisbon denied the sport bodies once more once any exception under EU law, it has set a new scenario to under which to develop EU sport policy. This article explores what institutional status would be most beneficial for the sport bodies in that new scenario. By employing basic ideas of veto player theory we arrive at the conclusion that veto power within EU policy making would be likely to grant sport bodies more influence in policymaking but can also result in bargaining deadlock without ending or solving the conflicts at stake. Only if the sport bodies would be given the status of a sole legitimate representative of sport matters, they could prevent any detrimental EU induced policy change. Since such a status is unlikely to achieve, our recommendation for the sport bodies is to continue to pursue a more inclusive approach towards other stakeholders in the sport sector.