UEFA/EU action plan against violence ...

UEFA President Michel Platini and European Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini have agreed a new action plan against violence in sport, which targets football hooliganism in particular.

Brussels conference
Today's initiative came at the end of a two-day conference in Brussels, jointly organised by the European Commission, the Portuguese EU Presidency, the European Parliament and UEFA.

Training programme
Vice-President Frattini has suggested a European training programme for operational police officers and stadium stewards, which will raise standards and spread best practice across the continent. The new programme could start as early as 2008, and will complement UEFA's existing Stadium and Security Education Programme, which operates in 53 national football associations.

Historic moment
Mr Platini congratulated Vice-President Frattini, saying the plans would mark "a historic moment in European co-operation against violence in sport. The only route to success is through a partnership between the EU, its member states, their police forces and UEFA."

'Extremely encouraged'
Vice-President Frattini said: "I was extremely encouraged by the conclusions reached at today's conference and the involvement of UEFA, under the inspiring leadership of Michel Platini. For my part, I have committed to following up proposals in three important areas. Firstly, in consultation with CEPOL [European Police College] and with the assistance of EUROPOL, we will establish an EU-wide training curriculum for those involved in policing sports events. Secondly, we would like to utilise better EUROPOL's crime threat assessment capacity and their ability to identify – early – potential hooligans. Finally, I also commit to further exploring the viability of joint police reaction teams to control large-scale sporting events in Europe."

Strong backing
Today's initiative gives strong backing to the EU's Football Safety and Security Experts Group, which comprises interior ministries, National Football Information Points and high-level police representatives. UEFA works closely with the Experts Group, which will now begin to design the training programme as part of its wider efforts.

2008 conference
At the end of the Brussels conference, Mr Platini and Vice-President Frattini agreed to hold a second conference in 2008 to look at criminal phenomena in sport, such as money-laundering, match-fixing and illegal betting.