Overview
- A joint letter from Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden asked the European Commission on July 14 to exclude the IOC, World Aquatics, FIE and other federations from Erasmus+ and related EU funding and forums.
- The request follows the IOC executive board’s provisional lifting of the Russian Olympic Committee suspension on July 7 after the ROC removed regional bodies based in occupied Ukrainian territory from its membership.
- World Aquatics and some international federations have already readmitted Russian and Belarusian athletes and in cases restored national uniforms, flags and anthems, a move the federations defended and Ukraine criticised as unfair to its athletes.
- The nine states argue readmission ignores that many Ukrainian competitors cannot train on equal terms because of displacement, damaged facilities or military service and they want funding leverage to push federations to uphold EU values.
- Brussels has not announced sanctions and applying Erasmus+ restrictions to international sports bodies would be unprecedented, setting up a likely legal and political clash that could affect relations with the Olympic movement ahead of LA 2028.