Avgenakis: “The time has come to comply with the EPO…”

“With article 1 we regulate the issue of the participation of arbitrators in the General Assembly of the EPO. We give the right to the second-level body of football referees to become a member of the Hellenic Football Federation (H.E.P.O.)

At the same time, we give active football referees the right to elect and be elected to the statutory bodies a) of the primary, b) of the secondary arbitration body, and c) to the statutory bodies of the E.P.O.

We are still applying a forecast of the Holistic Study for Greek football, prepared by FIFA and UEFA, in collaboration with us and delivered to the EPO, following the agreement of our Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, with the heads of the international football confederations.

The main axes of the Holistic Study are:

A) the representative representation of all involved football bodies in the decision-making bodies of the EPO. Before the Holistic Study, only the few involved in the decision-making, the players of the Associations of Football Clubs and representatives of the PAE. Now, the players and the coaches and the women’s football and from now on also the referees.

B) the independence of the arbitration. Yes, as a member of the EPO, but far from the influence of football factors. And this is now strengthened by the representation of the body of arbitrators (active and inactive, all together) both in the EPO General Assembly and in its Executive Committee.

In the context of the implementation of the Holistic Study, the EPO must amend its Statute so that the Panhellenic Association of Football Referees can participate as a member in its General Assembly, as well as its President in the Executive Committee of the EPO, from 2024. Together with At UEFA, we were in complete agreement on this philosophy from the beginning. And the time has come for EPO to comply, to adopt this model, by amending its Statute. And in order to do so, the amendment of law 2725/1999 is needed, as we submit it, so that active referees have the same rights in the statutory bodies of the Panhellenic Association of Football Referees as non-active referees.

With this provision, the adequate and fair representation of football referees in the statutory bodies of the E.P.O. is achieved. with the possibility of the active referees also participating.

Finally, the referees will also have the necessary voice and vote within the statutory bodies of the Hellenic Football Federation.

ski resorts

With article 2, we seek to speed up the process for the upgrading and utilization of the sports facilities of the legal entities of public law a) “NATIONAL SKI CENTER OF VASILITSA” and b) “NATIONAL SKI CENTER OF SELIO”.

We give the possibility to be assigned, by joint decision of the Ministers of Finance and Sports, to the Fund for the Exploitation of Private Property of the State S.A., to conduct, on behalf of the Greek State, a tender for the utilization of the facilities managed by the legal entities under public law with the brand name

a) VASILITSA NATIONAL SKI CENTER and b) SELIOU NATIONAL SKI CENTER. These two ski resorts have huge prospects. If exploited and upgraded, they can attract a large amount of tourism, boosting both the local and national economy. They can contribute significantly both to the development of winter sports, but also to strengthen ski tourism in this way.

The Private Property Development Fund of the State SA has the know-how, the resources and the human resources to carry out the required tenders for the upgrading of these centers and the achievement of the goals I mentioned.

LEGAL TECHNIQUES

Following the proposals and observations made at the Committee meetings, we also make the following amendments:

1) In article 4, regarding the co-location of a union with a commercial enterprise, we have heard the reservations that were expressed and we agree. It is allowed to co-locate a sports association only with catering businesses that operate in sports venues (i.e., refreshment rooms, canteens, etc.). And we also take care of the nautical associations.

2) In Article 12, we agree with the suggestion you made and recognize the seniority of physical education graduates. So we delete the last paragraph of paragraph 2, which stated the opposite.

3) In article 14, for running sports activities, you proposed to include the official competition program of the relevant world federation. We add it to paragraph 4.

4) In article 18, for the Register of Bodies of the Deputy Ministry of Sports, you suggested that there be a transitional stage and it is correct. After all, we had done the same with the Register of Sports Associations. Therefore, we add paragraph 3 to article 26, where we specify that the force will be from January 1, 2024.