Sport: Being healthy through physical activity
Sport plays an essential social role in the eyes of the DP. Regular exercise is not only important for our health and mental well-being. Sport also strengthens social cohesion by teaching important values such as tolerance and fairness, bringing people from different cultures and backgrounds together and thus strengthening inclusion, especially among young people.
The DP is convinced that sport is the foundation for a healthy life. That is why it is clear to us: Every Euro we invest in sport serves to promote the health of our citizens. We support and promote grass roots and disabled sport and the associated volunteer work, as they are fundamental pillars that drive sport forward and strengthen the community. At the same time, we want to further professionalise competitive sport as the flagship of our country, offer the best possible sports infrastructures and framework conditions, and provide even more targeted support for aspiring top athletes.
Luxembourg’s sports federations are facing growing administrative challenges. Often it is small teams that keep the respective associations running on a voluntary basis and without professional structures. As DPs, we believe that sports structures in the country cannot be based solely on voluntary work. In this context, a state subsidy enabling each federation to employ a person for administrative and organisational work would be an interesting option.
In order to properly promote sport in society and develop professional structures, sufficient financial resources are needed. Therefore, the DP advocates to gradually increase the budget of the Ministry of Sport to one per cent of the state budget.
In recent years, financial support for the youth work of the clubs, especially through the “Subside qualité+”, has increased significantly. This programme links the grants to clear training criteria for the coaches and focuses on high-quality coaching of the young athletes. The DP will take stock of the “Subside qualité+”, increase subsidies if necessary, and support the extension of funding to areas such as care and social responsibility of the association.
Modern infrastructures are indispensable in sport. In order to accommodate the population growth of recent years, the DP is committed to developing the various sports-related infrastructures. In order to support municipalities in financing sports facilities, we propose that, in addition to traditional grants, the possibility of financial incentives for cooperation on issues concerning rooms, changing rooms or small-scale catering be explored.
Competitive sport is an excellent ambassador for our country abroad. It is a challenge for individuals and reflects the will to achieve and the performance of a society. As DPs, we advocate the idea of dual careers, where athletes can combine high-performance sport and education. We also want to create incentives to encourage private businesses to sponsor high-performance athletes.
As competitive sports (competitions, sports trips, training camps…) often take place on weekends or public holidays, the DP is campaigning for labour law to take account of the specific needs of athletes in future. For this, the legal provisions could be adapted or a collective agreement for professionals in the sports sector could be reached to ensure more flexibility. Athletes would thus have the opportunity to spend more time on their sport in certain months, while they could return to their work in other months. Such a flexibilisation would allow for a better reconciliation of work and competitive sport.
DP is committed to supporting athletes throughout their careers with high quality services. This applies to promising young talents and top athletes, all the way to athletes who have ended their active careers. Through public services such as sports science, sports psychology, nutrition, sports physiotherapy and sports medicine, we want to support our athletes in the best possible way.
The establishment of the LIHPS, the SportFabrik and the HPTRC has professionalised the care of our best athletes and young talents and increased their international competitiveness. As DP, we intend to continue on this path and provide existing institutions with the necessary resources to realise the full potential of athletes.
The DP advocates creating a civilian career alongside the army’s elite sports department for athletes who aspire to alternative life projects.
As DP, we are committed to ensuring that voluntary engagement in sport is appropriately recognised and promoted. New impulses are needed for this. The “Congé sportif” is an important measure to underline the importance of sport. Our goal is to maintain the promotion of the “Congé sportif” and to adapt it to current circumstances. We also want to ensure that, in addition to top athletes, indispensable support staff, referees and match officials, volunteers will also have access to the “Congé sportif” in the future.
Sport can act as a role model in many areas. The DP is committed to clean, doping-free elite and grass roots sport. The fight against doping in all sports is to be continued in the future. As the DP, we stand by the zero-tolerance policy and firmly reject racism, hatred and homophobia in sport.
The DP will create an independent body whose main task will be to ensure welfare and integrity in sport, in particular to prevent harassment and abuse in the sporting environment and to support victims. In addition, in close cooperation with public and private institutions, the latter should also integrate the fight against manipulation and for the teaching of ethical values in sport into its work.
DP is consciously committed to inclusive participation of people with disabilities in sport and actively promotes their acceptance in society. We support inclusive sporting opportunities in various sports to enable people with disabilities to have equal opportunities to participate in sport and develop their passion. We firmly believe that sport brings people together and is a good example of inclusion. Therefore, we call for increased support of the “Luxembourg Paralympic Committee” and the “Luxembourg Special Olympics” in the future.
As a DP, we continuously advocate for improved gender equality policies in sport. Women are still under-represented and often disadvantaged in all areas of sport; be it financial support, media coverage or career opportunities in coaching and officiating. Further efforts are needed to address this inequality and ensure that women are given equal opportunities and recognition in sport.
Refer to chapter on Education
In order to promote sport and exercise in everyday life, the DP is committed to providing public spaces with more opportunities for exercise. The DP advocates the construction of innovative multifunctional sports facilities that are accessible to all citizens.
As an important economic factor, sport creates employment and consumption. Through sports satellite accounts, data can be used to determine its economic importance for the country. The 2016-2020 analyses have allowed us to quantify the impact of sport on the national economy each year. It is clear that sport has developed into a dynamically growing economic sector that also contributes to the national budget. Therefore, the DP supports the implementation of an adapted new version of the satellite account for the period 2021-2025 to track this development.
The DP is committed to implementing the “ProSport” programme, which is currently under development. Our main goal is to support clubs that currently do not have trained coaches. With “ProSport”, we want to offer these clubs the opportunity to access a pool of talented coaches and skilled professionals to further improve their sports offer. At the same time, we are upgrading the profession of coaching accordingly. Through the implementation of “ProSport”, we would like to further strengthen the sports landscape in Luxembourg.
The DP explicitly welcomes the introduction of a sports coordinator and recognises his important role in promoting sports activities and increasing participation in sports events. As DP, we want to push for the promotion of the sports coordinator to provide improved and long-term support to municipalities and syndicates. This involves the Ministry of Sport covering the personnel costs of the sports coordinator for a period of more than three years.
DP values COSL as an important partner to implement a comprehensive sports policy that supports the development of sport at all levels. The sport promotion concept of the COSL continues to provide an important overall strategy for the promotion of the Luxembourg sport landscape. In order to continue to meet the diverse tasks and challenges in the future, the DP is committed to providing more financial support to the COSL.
The DP recognises the importance that digital games have for children and young people today. With all the advantages and disadvantages. Demonising computer games misses the point. The DP will therefore take a nuanced approach. On the one hand, the DP will create a centre of excellence for computer games, which will function as a contact point for teachers and educators, but also for parents, children and young people. It aims to raise awareness about the dangers of gaming addiction, radicalisation, violence and stereotypes in computer games.
On the other hand, the DP also recognises the cognitive, motor and social skills that are promoted by computer games just as much as by classic games.
For this reason, the DP will put the so-called e-sports (electronic sports) on an equal footing with classic sports and promote corresponding training and sports structures, as well as financial support for athletes and associations. The DP will also work to give e-sports an Olympic perspective.
