The Parliament has definitively adopted the bill aimed at legally and socially protecting top-level and professional athletes. Derived from the “KARAQUILLO report,” this law sends a message to athletes who are often role models for young people.
The main advancements of the text focus on:
- new measures to improve the career transition of athletes with better access to competitive exams, studies, and apprenticeships.
- the modernization of professional integration agreements that allow them to access companies during their careers.
- social coverage that includes risks related to sports accidents.
- the safeguarding of employment contracts for athletes and professional trainers, known as the specific fixed-term contract measure.
The law text also includes the recognition of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee (CPSF).
Thierry Braillard, Secretary of State for Sports, and Patrick Kanner, Minister of Tutelage, express great satisfaction with this major advancement for all athletes, which takes on additional significance just a few months before the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games.
To better understand the significance of this law, Nice Premium sought to speak with Ivan Coste-Manière, president of the Regional Olympic Committee of the Côte d’Azur.
Nice Premium: what is your initial reaction after the approval of this law?
Ivan Coste-Manière: A unifying law of this magnitude must be understood as a strong message, particularly rich in terms of ethics, at a time so in need of values, pillars, and symbols of our social cohesion, equal opportunities, and regional planning.
NP: it is a mark of attention and consideration for the sports movement…
Ivan Coste-Manière: The Government and the entirety of the national representation wanted to send our athletes a vibrant tribute, and I can’t help but feel delighted about this, as it was our duty to offer our elite athletes of all genders, ages, disciplines, or origins (whom we too quickly tend to forget when they step out of the limelight, suffer injuries, or other life traumas) true national recognition.
NP: high-level athletes see their status strengthened. Couldn’t this be seen as a privilege?
Ivan Coste-Manière: The law is directed at those who are our true Ambassadors with such strength, intensity, enthusiasm, and leveraging effect for inclusive communication. Not only do they contribute to the radiance of our country and our local governments, but as I have always stated and appreciated, they are major role models for the youth of France. The media longevity of certain sports icons is evidence of this, as they continue (sometimes even better than during their active career) to fulfill this prominent educational role across generations.
NP: What are the most important elements of the law?
Ivan Coste-Manière: With the adoption of this new law, the entirety of an athlete’s “life curve” is considered, from intellectual and professional training to their career both in sports and within a company… and even retirement. It specifically details new measures to improve career transitions for athletes with better access to competitive exams, studies, and apprenticeships, initiating a necessary modernization of professional integration agreements that allow them access to companies during their careers.
Similarly, it was high time that in terms of Republican Equality and equal opportunities, social coverage including major risks related to sports accidents was required. The safeguarding of employment contracts for athletes and professional trainers, with the implementation of the specific fixed-term contract measure, should also be noted and highlighted, even if it needs to be detailed very closely regarding its future implementation aspects and subject to compliance with the labor code or relevant collective agreements.
NP: Good news for athletes a few months before the Rio Olympics…
Ivan Coste-Manière: A few months before the major sporting events of 2016, these advances must be welcomed with optimism and satisfaction by all our athletes and compatriots. Let’s hope that our athletes see in these advances, which primarily benefit them, a new element allowing them to further optimize their preparation for results befitting these investments from a united nation proud of its athletes, heroes of the times of peace.
NP: this law highlights the role of sport as a bearer of values in modern society…
Ivan Coste-Manière: Sport and Olympism undoubtedly stand among the key cements of our wounded Nation, requiring emblematic, irreproachable athletes whose role as images and in terms of economy cannot be questioned. Today, a strong signal of recognition from the highest authorities is issued for the sacrifices made by athletes in the practice of their sports.
NP: the legal recognition of disabled sports is just a long-overdue act of justice…
Ivan Coste-Manière: Finally, and it was about time, the legislative recognition of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee (CPSF) is finally signified to the entire Nation. Republican integration and equal opportunities are once again at the heart of this debate.
NP: this law is now a reality. What will be the repercussions at the level of CROS Côte d’Azur that you preside over? Are further steps already being considered?
Ivan Coste-Manière: The Regional Olympic and Sports Committee of the Côte d’Azur welcomes this excellent initiative, which comes at the right time to complement the 2007 directives on High-Level Athletes. We are currently in contact with Mr. Emmanuel Ethid, the Rector of the University of Nice, whom we thank for his positive and fruitful listening, in order to draft a highly realistic framework agreement for secondary or university athletes.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my predecessor Pierre Cambréal, my Secretary General Philippe Mourier, for their intensive contribution to this project, as well as my Board of Directors, which is unanimous on this subject.
