European Paralympic Committee

European Paralympic Committee

Formation	2 July 1999
Type	Sports federation
Headquarters	Vienna, Austria
Membership	49 National Paralympic Committees
Official language	English
President	Ratko Kovačić
Website	Official website

The European Paralympic Committee (EPC) is an international non-for-profit organisation which serves a membership of 49 National Paralympic Committees and 9 European branches of disability. Based in Vienna, Austria, the EPC was founded in November 1991 as the IPC European Committee and was later registered as an independent entity in 1999. ^[1]

The EPC is responsible for organising the European Paralympic Committee Youth Games. Furthermore, the EPC acts as an organisation which promotes and defends the collective interests of National Paralympic Committees, International Organisation of Sports for the Disabled or International Paralympic Sport Federation and European athletes with disabilities. ^[1]

The EPC has a democratic structure and the governing body of the organisation is elected every two years through a general assembly, where all registered members are entitled to send delegates and cast their vote. The Committee is made up of a president, secretary-general, treasurer, technical officer, athletes' representative and four members-at-large. The current president is Ratko Kovačić from Croatia, a former table tennis champion.

Member countries

In the following table, the year in which the NPC was recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is also given if it is different from the year in which the NPC was created.

Nation	Code	National Paralympic Committee	Created	Ref.
Andorra	AND	Andorran Adapted Sports Federation
Armenia	ARM	Armenian Paralympic Committee	1994
Austria	AUT	Austrian Paralympic Committee	1998
Azerbaijan	AZE	National Paralympic Committee of Azerbaijan	1996
Belarus	BLR	Paralympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus
Belgium	BEL	Belgian Paralympic Committee	1960
Bosnia and Herzegovina	BIH	Paralympic Committee of Bosnia & Herzegovina
Bulgaria	BUL	Bulgarian Paralympic Association
Croatia	CRO	Croatian Paralympic Committee
Cyprus	CYP	Cyprus National Paralympic Committee	1999
Czech Republic	CZE	Czech Paralympic Committee
Denmark	DEN	Paralympic Committee Denmark
Estonia	EST	Estonian Paralympic Committee	1991
Faroe Islands	FRO	Faroese Paralympic Committee	1980
Finland	FIN	Finnish Paralympic Committee	1994
France	FRA	French Paralympic and Sports Committee	1992
Georgia	GEO	Georgian Paralympic Committee	2003
Germany	GER	National Paralympic Committee Germany	1951
Great Britain	GBR	British Paralympic Association	1989
Greece	GRE	Hellenic Paralympic Committee	2001
Hungary	HUN	Hungarian Paralympic Committee
Iceland	ISL	Icelandic Sports Association for the Disabled
Ireland	IRL	Paralympics Ireland	1987
Israel	ISR	Israel Paralympic Committee
Italy	ITA	Italian Paralympic Committee	1990
Kosovo	KOS	Paralympic Committee of Kosovo	2023 [2]
Latvia	LAT	Latvian Paralympic Committee
Liechtenstein	LIE	Liechtensteiner Behinderten Verband
Lithuania	LTU	Lithuanian Paralympic Committee	1990
Luxembourg	LUX	Luxembourg Paralympic Committee
Malta	MLT	Malta Paralympic Committee
Moldova	MDA	Paralympic Committee of Moldova
Montenegro	MNE	Paralympic Committee of Montenegro	2007
Netherlands	NED	Dutch Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation
North Macedonia	MKD	North Macedonian Paralympic Committee
Norway	NOR	Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports
Poland	POL	Polish Paralympic Committee
Portugal	POR	Portugal Paralympic Committee
Romania	ROU	National Paralympic Committee, Romania
Russia	RUS	Russian Paralympic Committee (partially suspended)	1996 (suspension in 2022 [3] )
San Marino	SMR	San Marino Paralympic Committee
Serbia	SRB	Paralympic Committee of Serbia	1999
Slovakia	SVK	Slovak Paralympic Committee
Slovenia	SLO	Paralympic Committee of Slovenia - Sports Federation for the Disabled of Slovenia
Spain	ESP	Spanish Paralympic Committee	1995
Sweden	SWE	Swedish Parasports Federation	1969
Switzerland	SUI	Swiss Paralympic Committee
Turkey	TUR	Turkish Paralympic Committee	2002
Ukraine	UKR	National Sports Committee for the Disabled of Ukraine

Events

European Para Championships

Main article: European Para Championships

The European Para Championships are held every four years in the year proceeding the Summer Paralympic Games and have been given the status of a regional games by the European Paralympic Committee.

European Para Youth Games (EPYG)

Main article: European Para Youth Games

The European Para Youth Games is a biennial multi-sport event for young para-athletes aged between 13 and 23. ^{[4] [5] [6] [7]}

European Winter Para Sports Event

The first European Winter Para Sports Event (ParaSki4Europe) was held in 2020 in Poland:

Number	Year	Host	Sports	Athletes	Countries
1	2020	Czarna Gora, Poland [8] [9] [10]	4	150	12

See also

• International Paralympic Committee
• European Olympic Committees

References

1. "European Paralympic Committee - About Us". europaralympic.org. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
2. "Bangladesh and Kosovo join IPC and three receive Paralympic Order at General Assembly". 28 September 2023.
3. "IPC suspends Russian, Belarusian committees with immediate effect". Reuters. 17 November 2022.
4. "European Para Youth Games line-up revealed".
5. "2015 European Para Youth Games in Croatia (EPYG 2015)". www.oepc.at. Archived from the original on 2018-11-20.
6. "Three IBSA sports on 2019 European Youth Games programme - News - IBSA". www.ibsasport.org. Archived from the original on 2018-11-20.
7. "European Para Youth Games - Calendar - IBSA". www.ibsasport.org. Archived from the original on 2018-11-19.
8. "European Winter Para Sports Event, Poland, 2020" (PDF). Europaralympic.org. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
9. "GAMES & EVENTS". Europaralympic.org. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
10. "INVITATION" (PDF). Europaralympic.org. Retrieved 29 July 2022.

External links

• European Paralympic Committee - official Website
• European Paralympic Committee Youth Games - official Website