The European Parliament adopted a declaration on increased European Union support for grassroots sports.

Members stress that sport is an important factor in social cohesion and contributes to many policy objectives, such as health promotion, education, social integration, the fight against discrimination, culture as well as crime reduction and the fight against drug addiction.

Parliament calls on the Commission and Member States to promote sport for all, strengthening its educational and integrating role, with special attention paid to under-represented groups such as women, seniors, and disabled people. It calls on Member States to ensure that grassroots sport does not suffer from major budget cuts in times of crisis.

The Commission is invited to:

pay the necessary attention to grassroots sports in the upcoming Communication on sport and to ensure sufficient funding for the EU Sport Programme from 2012 onwards; take due account of the results of the study on the financing of grassroots sports with regard to a possible EU initiative on gambling issues.