27/11/2015 Standing Committee
The Assembly today welcomed the initiative of the Committee of Ministers in drawing up a Council of Europe Convention on an Integrated Safety, Security and Service Approach at Football Matches and Other Sports Events.
Adopting a report prepared by Valeri Jablianov (Bulgaria, SOC), the parliamentarians unreservedly concured with the multi-agency, integrated approach of the new convention, which is intended to establish the regulatory framework and the mechanisms required for effective and co-ordinated action by all the stakeholders involved, while respecting the specific features of national systems and the independence of the partner sports organisations.
However, the Assembly said, some improvements would be desirable however. In particular, it would be appropriate to explicitly refer to the threats which can originate from terrorism, thus showing that the new convention is part of the response to these threats, and to highlight that the States Parties shall ensure proper risk assessment, based on relevant data.
The parliamentarians encouraged all Council of Europe member States to ratify rapidly this new convention.