Poland urges no Ukraine boycott during Euro 2012

photo - PAP/EPA/UKRPRAVDA

The Ministry’s spokesman Marcin Bosacki told journalists that such a grand event for sports fans should not be linked in any way former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s ill treatment by the Ukrainian authorities.

Poland is co-hosting the event with the ex-Soviet state.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the EU Commission president, said Tuesday that he will not be attending matches in Ukraine during Euro 2012.

"It is clear that as things stand now, the president has no intention of going to Ukraine,'' a spokeswoman for Barroso said, Tuesday.

EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding has said she will not be attending the opening ceremony of Euro 2012 in Ukraine, even though, as has been pointed out, that ceremony will be held at Warsaw's National Stadium in Poland.

A German government spokesman also said any visit by Chancellor Angela Merkel during the championship, one of the continent's main sports events, would be linked to Tymoshenko's fate.

Tymoshenko is currently serving a seven year prison term for “abuse of power” as prime minister in 2008 when concluding an energy deal with Russia.

Photographs were published this week showing bruising to the former leader of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, which she says she rceived after being forcefully moved from her prison cell for hospital treatment for a back complaint.

Foreign Ministry spokesman, Macin Bosacki, as well as urging politicians to call off any boycotts, reminded of Poland’s repeated demand for the respect of human rights by Kiev. (pg/ss)