Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia is calling on the European Union for greater and more sustained help for people with intellectual disabilities in Europe.
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The Torch Run crosses Europe for the 2006 Special Olympics European Youth Games held in Italy.
In December 2009 the European Parliament voted to grant funding of six million Euro to Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia from the European Commission.
The funding will go towards financially supporting the development of Special Olympics across the 27 Member States as well assisting with the hosting of the Special Olympics European Games which are to be held in Warsaw in September, 2010 and the Special Olympics World Summer Games which are to be held in Athens in the year 2011.
The Special Olympics movement in Europe promotes inclusion and cross-border solidarity for people with intellectual disabilities. This occurs on a daily basis, every week across the 27 EU Member States.
The harsh reality is, without significant funding from the EU, Special Olympics will not be able to expand its activities in Europe to include other people with intellectual disabilities and we may even have to cut back on existing programmes in Europe.
In November 2009, Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia also received confirmation from the European Commission that a funding grant of Euro 447, 120.00 had been awarded under the Preparatory Action in the Field of Sport 2009. Read Article. The funds will go in a large part towards expanding our Unified Sports programme.
We are entering into an exciting new phase for sport in Europe. The European Union (EU) has recognised the important role sport plays in education, culture, social cohesion and public health within our European society. With the impending ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, at last Europe has a legal base to provide a supporting role to member states. EU institutions will be able to recognise the important role of sport in European societies far more than they have ever been able to do in the past.
SOEE aims to capitalise on the existing support of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Sports Council to ensure the necessary support.