Despite the protests, Ukraine will organize European Football Championship

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May 3, 2012

Ukraine will not give up the 2012 European Football Championship, despite the increasing number of European politicians threatening to boycott the games, thus protesting against the raw deal faced by the country’s former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

«We are ready for the championship and on May 11 we are transferring control over four stadiums to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA),» Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov said. He added that Ukraine has not faced any serious critics from the side of UEFA, BBC reported.

Despite this fact, the number of European politicians willing to boycott the games is growing. The championship is organized by Ukraine and Poland, and it will take place from June 1 until July 1. Austria has already announced it will boycott the championship. It could be followed by the Netherlands which have warned it will refuse going to Ukraine if the state fails to improve the situation with human rights and doesn’t change attitude towards the medical treatment of Tymoshenko.

Because of this reason, several high level officials have canceled their visits to Ukraine, including the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso. He could be followed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel who said that any of her visits will depend on the attitude towards Tymoshenko.

Moreover, leaders of Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, as well as the Latvian President Andris Berzins will not attend the summit of Eastern and Central Europe countries’ presidents taking place in Yalta on May 11 and 12.

Also the US State Secretary Hillary Clinton has required to immediately provide Tymoshenko all medical treatment she needs and let the US ambassador see her.

BNN already reported that in October the Court of Kiev found Tymoshenko guilty in misuse of authority in 2009 when she signed the agreement on the Russian gas supplies to Ukraine. According to the court’s decision she will have to spend seven years in imprisonment. Since then, Tymoshenko’s health status has been growing worse.

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