It was voted by an overwhelming majority and without any negative vote, the Memorandum of Cooperation between Greece and China in the field of Sports.

In favour of ratification, ND, PASOK SYRIZA and "Victory", while KKE, Greek Solution and Freedom Sailing declared "present".

"The result of the vote confirms the strong attitude of all to be united in sport in which no electoral or party name fits," said Deputy Minister of Education and Sports, Giannis Brutsis.

At the same time he stressed the measures to address sports violence on the pitch, stressing that "by law 5085 that we all voted together, the second year comparative data, in two racing periods, show complete compliance with the delinquent behavior in field stands.".

According to the evidence submitted by Mr Brutsis:

- From 47 closed-door matches to all sports and categories, versus 80 last year, we've got a 41.25% reduction in land closures.

- There were 17 closed-door games in professional sports, football and basketball, compared to 34 last year, a 50% reduction.

Fines of EUR 360,000 were imposed on teams against EUR 430,500 last year, a 16.4% reduction, as well as EUR 560,500 fines on natural persons against 378,000 last year, an increase of 48.3%.

"Another shocking element," as Mr. Brutsis described it, "which confirms that people are returning to the stadiums is that we have a 15-year record in the increase in tickets". As he said, "the ticket market was increased by 15.9%, compared to last year. Specifically there were 1,753,400 tickets in this year's Super League games"

"In short, it turns out that with the law that we voted together we have now managed to have measurable evidence that shows that there is positive behaviour of fans on the pitches and we are reducing infraction," he stressed.

Also the Deputy Minister of Education and Sports pointed out that "Fetino KOUROS, who was announced in Thessaloniki, shows that we have 452,961 athletes in amateur sports, 6,451 Associations, 151 sports, 66 Federations and 20,654 coaches who for the first time gained professional status with our law.".

Mr Brutsis also emphasized the issue of transparency and good administration in the allocation of resources, stressing that 'their increased distribution is now based on objective and measurable criteria'.

Source: RES-SME