News from Brussels

The Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU begins

On Friday January 1st, the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union commenced, which will last six months as part of the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU. In conjunction with Germany and Slovenia, Portugal is part of the Trio Presidencies from the period of July 2020 to December 2021, all of which have of course been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the recovery which will follow.

EC publishes Expert Panel opinion on the organisation of resilient health & social care following the pandemic

In December last year, the European Commission published the Expert Panel opinion on the organisation of resilient health and social care following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The #BeActive Awards Ceremony and the European Week of Sport 2020 Debrief

On 8th December 2020, EuropeActive attended the #BeActive Awards Ceremony online. The Awards were created to celebrate the best projects and individual’ contributions to the promotion of sport and physical activity across Europe. Moderator Raluca Anghel presented the finalists and Commissioner Mariya Gabriel announced the impressive 2020 winners.

EuropeActive participates in the final EU Sport Policy Breakfast of 2020

On Wednesday December 16th, the Sport Unit of the EU Commission held its final sport policy breakfast of 2020 in a virtual format. This session focused on who can speak on behalf of sport at the European level, with stakeholders from across the sport and physical activity sector engaging in lively discussions on the topic.

EuropeActive at the European Education Summit on Digital Education Transformation

On Thur

EU Commissioner Mariya Gabriel announces ‘Healthy Lifestyle for All’ Initiative

On Wednesday 17 November, the European Commission hosted a high-level conference entitled, “The recovery of the sport sector after the COVID-19 crisis: the way ahead” in which the impact of COVID-19 and future of the sector was central to the discussion.

EuropeActive official partner of the European Vocational Skills Week 2020

The European Vocational Skills Week is an annual event aiming to increase awareness surrounding vocational education and training (VET), and is an opportunity to exchange information and good practice across Europe.

Latest EU budget breakthrough includes significant increase in Health spending

Last week the European Parliament and the representatives of the Council of the EU, which is currently presided by Germany, reached an agreement on both the Next Generation EU recovery fund and the long term EU budget.

EuropeActive hosted the 4th FORUM for Anti-Doping in Recreational Sport

EuropeActive hosted the 4th Annual FORUM for Anti-Doping in Recreational Sport on Thursday 12th November, and this year's event marked a shift away from the traditional format in order to adapt to Covid-19 restrictions.

Sector Skills Alliance for Active leisure meeting to review its strategy amid Covid-19 pandemic

Sector Skills Alliance for the Active Leisure‘s mission, since it was established in 2016, has been to identify sector-specific labour market needs, demand for new occupation profiles and skills needed to perform in the Outdoor and Fitness sector using scientific evidence.

Undoubtedly, the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the landscape and has obviously brought us to another reality where there are new skills needed, new needs created and new challenges for the sector to overcome.