The awards ceremony of ACES Europe 2016 took place on 16th November at the European Parliament in Brussels, with more than 30 cities candidates for the awards and Marseille as the main protagonist, which received the award for the European Capital of Sport 2017.
ACES Europe (European Capitals and Cities of Sport federation) is a non-profit association based in Brussels which assigns the recognitions of European Capital, City, Community and Town of Sport, every year since 2001.
The ECU President Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili visited Brussels for this occasion, and during ACES award ceremony met the European Commissioner of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Mr. Tibor Navracsics, the President and founder of ACES, Mr. Gian F. Lupattelli, and the Head of the European Parliament Committee on Culture and Education MEP Mr. Silvia Costa.
Mr. Azmaiparashvili discussed the new opportunities of chess entering the European programs for the next years with Mr. Navracsics and Mr. Costa, while with Mr. Lupattelli he discussed the possibility of agreement between the ECU and ACES.
The ECU President also met Mrs. Claudia Tapardel, the Romanian MEP, who chaired the ECU CIS Conference in the European Parliament last February. During their brief meeting they decided to continue to work closely for the further promotion of chess in the European Parliament and European Commission, as well as to make chess eligible as a sport and educational tool for more EU programs.
