Greek Sports Minister Stavros Kontonis tabled in Parliament amendments to a draft bill on dealing with sports violence that were discussed with other parties on Tuesday, during the committee reading of the bill. The bill as a whole passed in principle at committee level in Parliament on Tuesday on the votes of the ruling coalition, with opposition parties expressing reservations and calling for amendments. The arguments focused on disagreements about the right of the government to intervene in fines and the extent of the jurisdiction of the National Football Federation (EPO) especially in terms of international sports authorities. Changes tabled on Thursday (April 30) by Kontonis try to bridge the gap between decisions by the ministry of sports and positions of FIFA and UEFA, the international associations. Amendments among other things include the following: the right of a sports minister to levy fines on associations, football clubs (FC) and sports federations for instigating violence or racist behavior (after seeking a second opinion from a violence committee) and to cancel sports games for preventative reasons; an upper limit of 5 million for fines on FCs, unless they violate a ban on competing abroad, in which case it can go as high as 25 million euros; and the mutual obligation of EPO and the minister to inform each other of any information received that a game may have been manipulated. The amendments also included an explanation on the EPO’s jurisdiction, as an autonomous authority, and the agreement of any of its decisions with the Constitution, current legislation and international bodies to which EPO belongs. (source: ana-mpa)
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