Co-operation with the Member States

The relevant Council formation was renamed the "Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council" in September 2010.

However, for a number of years EU Sports Directors and Ministers had been meeting regularly in an informal setting, outside the formal structures of the EU Council of Ministers, already before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. The purpose of these meetings was to address sport-related matters of common concern, exchange good practice and give political guidance to the Commission. These informal meetings will in principle continue also after the entry into force of the Treaty provisions for sport.

While decisions can only be taken in the Council, informal meetings can be useful to exchange views on matters of common concern and to prepare the ground for work in the Council.

Six EU working groups have been set up in recent years to co-operate more closely, at technical level, on specific topics. Each working group includes representatives of at least ten Member States and is chaired by the Commission.

The following Working Groups were established in the following years:
2005 - Working Group "Sport & Health"
2006 - Working Group "Sport & Economics"
2007 - Working Group "Non-Profit Sport Organisations"
2008 - Working Group "Anti-Doping"
2009 - Working Group "Education and Training in Sport".
2010 - Working Group "Social Inclusion and Equal Opportunities in Sport".