Photo: MEP Sean Kelly gets active outside European Parliament (by Jana Stehlíková).

This week marks the 10th anniversary of one of the most important EU documents for the grassroots sport sector: the EU White Paper on Sport. The White Paper is a policy document adopted in 2007 that recognised the importance of increasing mass participation in sport and physical activity.

Among its focus areas and proposed actions were the  "societal role of sport", "enhancing public health through physical activity" and "sport for social inclusion", and developing physical activity guidelines and offering support to civil society organisations working in grassroots sport.

The Preparatory Actions funding stream in the field of sport was set up in 2009 to offer funding for these organisations to carry out projects and events related to the EU's proposed actions, and the initiative continued with the Erasmus+ Sport programme in 2014.

ISCA Secretary General Jacob Schouenborg commented on the day that the anniversary "indeed marks a milestone in the clever path of EU Sport to move from merely policing professional sport to promoting grassroots sport".

The EU White Paper on Sport is available online here