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.

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.

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		[1]
Armenia	ARM	Armenian Paralympic Committee	1994	[2]
Austria	AUT	Austrian Paralympic Committee	1998	[3]
Azerbaijan	AZE	National Paralympic Committee of Azerbaijan	1996	[4]
Belarus	BLR	Paralympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus		[5]
Belgium	BEL	Belgian Paralympic Committee	1960	[6]
Bosnia and Herzegovina	BIH	Paralympic Committee of Bosnia & Herzegovina		[7]
Bulgaria	BUL	Bulgarian Paralympic Association		[8]
Croatia	CRO	Croatian Paralympic Committee		[9]
Cyprus	CYP	Cyprus National Paralympic Committee	1999	[10]
Czech Republic	CZE	Czech Paralympic Committee		[11]
Denmark	DEN	Paralympic Committee Denmark		[12]
Estonia	EST	Estonian Paralympic Committee	1991	[13]
Faroe Islands	FRO	Faroese Paralympic Committee	1980	[14]
Finland	FIN	Finnish Paralympic Committee	1994	[15]
France	FRA	French Paralympic and Sports Committee	1992	[16]
Georgia	GEO	Georgian Paralympic Committee	2003	[17]
Germany	GER	National Paralympic Committee Germany	1951	[18]
Great Britain	GBR	British Paralympic Association	1989	[19]
Greece	GRE	Hellenic Paralympic Committee	2001	[20]
Hungary	HUN	Hungarian Paralympic Committee		[21]
Iceland	ISL	Icelandic Sports Association for the Disabled		[22]
Ireland	IRL	Paralympics Ireland	1987	[23]
Israel	ISR	Israel Paralympic Committee		[24]
Italy	ITA	Italian Paralympic Committee	1990	[25]
Kosovo	KOS	Paralympic Committee of Kosovo	2023	[26]
Latvia	LAT	Latvian Paralympic Committee		[27]
Liechtenstein	LIE	Liechtensteiner Behinderten Verband		[28]
Lithuania	LTU	Lithuanian Paralympic Committee	1990	[29]
Luxembourg	LUX	Luxembourg Paralympic Committee		[30]
Malta	MLT	Malta Paralympic Committee		[31]
Moldova	MDA	Paralympic Committee of Moldova		[32]
Montenegro	MNE	Paralympic Committee of Montenegro	2007	[33]
Netherlands	NED	Dutch Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation		[34]
North Macedonia	MKD	North Macedonian Paralympic Committee		[35]
Norway	NOR	Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports		[36]
Poland	POL	Polish Paralympic Committee		[37]
Portugal	POR	Portugal Paralympic Committee		[38]
Romania	ROU	National Paralympic Committee, Romania		[39]
Russia	RUS	Russian Paralympic Committee	1996	[40]
San Marino	SMR	San Marino Paralympic Committee		[41]
Serbia	SRB	Paralympic Committee of Serbia	1999	[42]
Slovakia	SVK	Slovak Paralympic Committee		[43]
Slovenia	SLO	Paralympic Committee of Slovenia - Sports Federation for the Disabled of Slovenia		[44]
Spain	ESP	Spanish Paralympic Committee	1995	[45]
Sweden	SWE	Swedish Parasports Federation	1969	[46]
Switzerland	SUI	Swiss Paralympic Committee		[47]
Turkey	TUR	Turkish Paralympic Committee	2002	[48]
Ukraine	UKR	National Sports Committee for the Disabled of Ukraine		[49]

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.

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	4	150	12

See also

• International Paralympic Committee
• European Olympic Committees

External links

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