Enhancing Europeanisation through European sport-related Programmes: The case of Greece

The purpose of this study is to explore the contribution of the European sport-related Programmes in developing Europeanisation. The research argues that the European Programmes represent a supranational policy mechanism that brings change at European and national level. In particular, this work concentrates on the importance of the social function of sport and the domestic impact of the European Community Programmes as a supranational funding opportunity for sport in the case of Greece. In this paper, the concept of Europeanisation is adapted as a framework for studying the contribution of EC Programmes to the creation of convergence mechanisms through sport in Greece, such as networking, in order to strengthen European values and European Identity. The first part explains the EU interest in sport as a social function and presents the progress towards the EU interventions in sport. The next section attempts to identify EU pressures, mechanisms and the degree of domestic change as a result of engaging sport in European Community Programmes implemented in Greece.