Several members of the European Parliament have written to the President of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), calling for using the tremendous attention it has to fight ageism.
UEFA has an outreach to about 1.3 billion people, the MEPs quote the organisation’s own numbers, and is using it actively to promote universal messages in campaigns against racism and homophobia, or more recently to promote vaccination against COVID-19 and the European Green Deal.
‘Ageism prevents people, above all older persons, from fully realizing their human rights’, write the MEPs, ‘and has a negative impact on the development of the society as a whole. This issue is especially important at a time when we are rapidly seeking answers to the challenges of an ageing European society, which, concurrently, brings forward many opportunities for Europe.’
Stressing that UEFA is embracing its power to fight discrimination, the MEPs add: ‘As ageism is a form of discrimination, UEFA could once again play an important role in combating it.’
The call for an UEFA campaign to fight age discrimination and promote a campaign for dialogue and solidarity between generations has been signed by the following MEPs:
- Milan Brglez, Slovenia, S&D
- Isabel Carvalhais, Portugal, S&D
- Dietmar Köster, Germany, S&D
- Franc Bogovič, Slovenia, EPP
- Tanja Fajon, Slovenia, S&D
- Estrella Durá Ferrandis, Spain, S&D
- Dragoș Pîslaru, Romania, Renew Europe
- Carles Puigdemont, Spain, Non-Attached
- Antoni Comín, Spain, Non-Attached
- Clara Ponsatí, Spain, Non-Attached
- Klemen Grošelj, Slovenia, Renew Europe
- Manuel Pizarro, Italy, S&D
- Salima Yenbou, France, Greens/EFA
- Jarosław Duda, Poland, EPP
- Antonius Manders, Netherlands, EPP
- Milan Zver, Slovenia, EPP
- Elisabetta Gualmini, Italy, S&D
- Ibán García del Blanco, Spain, S&D
- Predrag Fred Matić, Croatia, S&D
- Hannes Heide, Austria, S&D
- Tomasz Frankowski, Poland, EPP
