MADRID, 26 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Pilar Alegría, aspires for this new legislature to be “a stage of stability, dialogue and consensus in the management of sports policy”, and does not hide the importance of this year 2024 due to the dispute of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, which will serve to “measure the health” of “high-level” Spanish sport and to which the Government is paying “special attention.”
The politician went to the Congress of Deputies this Friday to present the “priorities and main measures” in sport, an activity that she considers “of enormous social reach, a right of citizens and athletes, and an industry that creates employment , wealth and a set of values that are the expression of dignity as human beings”. In fact, in Spain there are more than 4 million federal athletes for the first time, a historic figure.
Alegría stressed that sport “is also a symbol of educational values, a source of individual and collective health and a generator of feelings of identity and social and citizen cohesion”, to which the new Sports Law has given “the status of an essential right.” to all citizens” and its importance to be “a vector of continuous economic and social growth.
The minister stressed the importance of grassroots sport, “the place from which to build an inclusive and universal model”, for which they will promote “the promotion of sports practice in the school environment” in collaboration with the centers and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, without forgetting the Autonomous Communities where it also wants to “reinforce” this aspect and prevent “the lack of economic resources from being a social gap that generates injustice and lack of opportunities.”
Alegría recalled that during this year 2024 they will develop the new Sports Law and celebrated the “big step” taken with the final approval of the new ministerial order that will from now on regulate the electoral processes in the federations “on the basis of transparency, equality , inclusion, good governance and democratic participation”.
The leader will prioritize “women's access to sports, their presence in management positions, the promotion of sports practiced with people with disabilities and the achievement of safe environments, free of violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance”, and will work to develop a new regulation of sports insurance “for the greatest and best protection and safety” of athletes.
His ministry will also adapt “the disciplinary code without a sanctioning regime to the new requirements of the law”, emphasizing “recognizing and protecting the rights of athletes”, to whom they want to offer “more security and recognition.”
Likewise, in 2024, it will approve “a national strategy to promote sports and fight against sedentary lifestyle and physical inactivity”, it will implement the 'Challenge D' program, “especially so that rural areas also have these tax benefits for the sustainable adaptation of their sports facilities”, will design “new formulas for public-private collaboration” and will continue to support “the digitalization processes of the sports sector and the improvement of the energy sustainability of sports centers and facilities.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC YEAR
“If we talk now about professional sports, the year 2024 generates high interest thanks to those Olympic and Paralympic Games this coming summer. And to do so, facing this important and key date, we are going to continue with the development and implementation of the Team Spain program for the preparation of Olympic and Paralympic athletes, an absolutely ambitious program to which we are dedicating 48 million euros for the entire Olympic cycle,” he assured.
Alegría made it clear that this program is “extraordinary” and “also aims to guarantee maximum quality” to athletes, “with personalized attention and qualitative added value that meets all their sporting and physical and mental health needs.”
The minister cited other relevant programs such as the High Level Athlete Care Program (PROAD), which already has 6,400 athletes that “offers more than 85 percent job placement” and stated that they will not stop investing in the CARs and in Sports Technique Centers.
“And at the gates of these Paris Games, an event that will also measure the health of our high-level sport and to which the Government is devoting special attention, Spain presents itself to the world as a benchmark in the organization of major sporting events” , warned Alegría, who spoke about this year's Sailing America Cup in Barcelona, the candidacy for the 2030 Soccer World Cup or the Formula 1 World Cup Grand Prix in Madrid and Barcelona starting in 2026.
Taking advantage of the status of an Olympic and Paralympic year, they will work to achieve the objectives “in matters of gender equality and disability”, with special emphasis on strengthening “the structures of professional women's sports”, the integration of federations of sports practiced by people with disability in sports federations, and the review of the Inclusive Sports Plan.
Finally, Pilar Alegría referred to the issue of doping, for which they will dedicate “the maximum attention to improving the anti-doping control mechanisms, in close collaboration with international institutions in this matter and maintaining the maximum rigor with all the guarantees in a policy of zero tolerance for any fraudulent practices. In this sense, she noted the appointment this Friday of Silvia Calzón as the new general director of the Spanish Commission for the Fight Against Doping in Sports (CELAD).
“I have no doubt and I am also convinced that the recent incorporation of José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes as the new president of this organization at the head of the Higher Sports Council will open a stage of stability, dialogue and consensus in the management of sports policy in our country,” stated the minister.