Youth for Europe and SOCRATES sponsor young volunteers at the 1998 World Cup
The European Commission, within the framework of the Youth for Europe and SOCRATES programmes, is sponsoring 115 young volunteers to work at the 1998 World Cup football tournament, being held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The activities carried out by the volunteers will include welcoming foreign delegations and helping them to settle into the ten host venues. Some 75 of the young volunteers are participating in the "European Voluntary Service" initiative for young people, introduced by the Commission on an experimental basis in 1996. The aim is to provide young people between the ages of 18 and 25 with the opportunity to get involved in a social, socio-cultural or environmental project in another country. The Council and Parliament are currently in conciliation on proposals to convert this pilot initiative into a full-scale Community programme. It is also included in the Commission's recent proposal for a "YOUTH" programme, for the years 2000-2004. The other 40 volunteers are drawn from university students currently participating in the ERASMUS programme. The "Euro-University France'98" initiative is supported by the World Cup Organizing Committee (CFO) and the inter-ministerial delegation for the organization of France'98. The initiative is organized by the European Network of Sport Science Institutes. World Cup armbands will be handed over to the volunteers officially on 10 June 1998 at the Stade de France in Paris during the World Cup opening ceremony, in the presence of European Commissioner for Research, innovation, education, training and youth, Mrs. Edith Cresson, and the French Minister for Sport and Youth, Mrs. Marie-Georges Buffet.