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EU government officials, representatives of the European Commission, police chiefs, supporters and sports bodies met in Brussels on Thursday (November 29) for a first high-level meeting dedicated to sport violence. The meeting was organised in response to the recent rise in soccer-related violence which culminated in two fatal shootings in Italy this year and was chaired by UEFA President Michel Platini and EU Commissioner for justice, freedom and security Franco Frattini. At the end of the morning meeting, Frattini announced plans for the formation of a special pan-European police force to tackle soccer-related violence. "What I have in mind is to build specialised European units ready to intervene in a short time in case of need and ready to participate in cooperation in the occasion of international sport events. This is, I would say, exactly the step forward towards the creation one day of a true European police for sport," Frattini said. Earlier this year, Platini -- European soccer's top official -- had called for the creation of an international force to tackle the growing problem of hooliganism along with corruption, money-laundering and illegal gambling. Platini said that soccer needed the help of the political world to deal with the problem. The new force will be funded by the EU and will require the approval of the bloc's 27 member states. UEFA could also participate financially in the planned police force, Platini said. "For Euro 2008, we went from three million Euros spent for security to thirty five millions for security and I am thinking we could use this money for soccer fields, basketball courts, handball courts, for balls, for football boots for everyone instead of spending it on security to prevent a few people from coming up and smashing everything," Platini said. Platini, who played for Juventus in the 1985 European Cup final against Liverpool at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels at which 39 people died as a result of crowd disturbances, said a lot of lessons could be learnt from Great Britain as the country has had to deal with violent behaviour related to soccer events. "We have been working for a long time, a lot, with the Brits because you have been through dramas, one of them I took part in some twenty years ago. Those dramas led you to take into account the problem of violence. Those dramas moved things forward in your country and I have the feeling that other countries which didn't go through those dramas... and we have to prepare them, to help them to put into place with Mr. Frattini and say 'Be careful, don't wait for new dramas'," Platini said. The former French international had also sought greater punishments for offenders, including a travel ban for persistent offenders. He was hopeful past problems between Armenia and Turkey would not resurface and lamented the amount of money spent on combating violence, resources which could be better used buying sports equipment and providing facilities. Such a ban on those found guilty of sports-related violence was included among the many conclusions from the meeting along with replacing large police presences with more highly-trained stewards, better stadium safety standards, a new supporters' charter of rules and "fan coaching." Asked about the possibility of imposing a EU wide ban for violent soccer fans, Frattini said: "I think it's a measure to be taken where all the other measures have failed because as a first measure I wouldn't proposed a European ban. But for example, I am thinking of involving more than in the past Europol and Eurojust. Europol has a responsibility of monitoring suspect people, criminals. Why don't entrust Europol to monitoring permanently suspects and violent hooligans to control, to track down them all across Europe." Under Frattini's proposals, a new specially trained unit will be set up within Europol -- the EU-wide police force -- to deal with sports violence and could be in place in time for Euro 2008 which takes place next summer in Austria and Switzerland.