Nine European Nations Urge EU to Cut Funding to Olympic Bodies Over Russian, Belarusian Return

According to Lianhe Zaobao citing Reuters, Estonia's Ministry of Culture said on July 14 that nine European countries have asked the European Union to reduce funding to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other sports organizations for allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to competition. The proposal, submitted to EU Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport Micallef, targets major bodies including the IOC, World Aquatics, and the International Fencing Federation. The countries behind the initiative are Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, and Sweden. This marks the strongest collective action by EU member states to use the bloc's financial leverage to pressure international sports bodies over the reinstatement of Russian and Belarusian athletes, setting the stage for a potential confrontation between European governments and the Olympic movement ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games. On July 7, the IOC Executive Board temporarily lifted the ban on Russia's Olympic Committee, stating that athletes should not be held accountable for their government's actions. The nine countries call for excluding the affected sports bodies from EU funding programs supporting education, training, youth, and sports, including Erasmus+. They wrote that respect for human rights, the rule of law, and peaceful relations between nations are core principles of international sports and the Olympic movement, and that allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete overlooks the reality that Ukrainian athletes cannot train under equally safe conditions.