The PP, Vox, Ciudadanos and the independentistas of Junts choose to vote against while ERC, Bildu and BNG abstain
MADRID, 3 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Plenary Session of the Congress of Deputies has approved this Thursday the new Sports Law, which on its way through the Culture Commission included an amendment that opens the door to the participation of regional teams in official international competitions in sports sports “historic roots” in their communities, such as Basque pelota.
In the end, and after this controversy, the PP, Vox, Ciudadanos and the Junts independentistas have chosen to vote against the entire law, while ERC, Bildu and the BNG have abstained. The PSOE and United We Can have indeed added the support of the PNV, Más País-Equo and Compromís.
Specifically, the transactional amendment promoted by the PNV states that “autonomous federations may participate directly in official international sports competitions if the international federation contemplates it in sports modalities with historical and social roots in their autonomous community”, or if the regional federation is registered in the international federation even before the Spanish one.
Of course, a second point is added emphasizing that “the participation of the regional sports federation in international competitions will take place prior agreement with the Higher Sports Council (CSD)”, which will entail the support of the entry of the regional federation in the international .
In the rest of sports, the obligation for the regional federations to join the Spanish one to participate in international competitions will be maintained. In the Olympic Games there is also no option for regional teams since only states recognized by the United Nations are recognized.
From the PNV they pointed out that this door will allow the registration of the Basque team in international Basque pelota competitions, since it is a sport with historical roots in the community, and surfing, since the Basque federation is prior to the Spanish one.
Other sources from sports organizations downgrade that interpretation, noting that in any case the approval of the Government (CSD) must always be given, and in the case of Basque pelota there are discrepancies because other territorial federations (Navarra, La Rioja) also require their approval. representation, and the corresponding international federation, which has its own rules.
The transactional amendment, rejected by the PP, Vox and Ciudadanos, in any case caused the PP, which was going to support the approval of the law as a whole, to abstain in the Culture Commission.
In committee, an amendment was also introduced by the PSOE and United We Can to recognize the collective distribution of football rights, partially admitting the claims of 39 of the 42 First and Second division clubs and avoiding the strike that they had announced.
And another modification was introduced, supported by the PP, to prohibit federations from contracting the organization of official competitions with companies of athletes who compete in them, which was interpreted as a veto for the Football Federation chaired by Luis Rubiales to be able to re-agree with the footballer Gerard Piqué’s company, as he did with the Super Cup played in Saudi Arabia.
