Ukraine faces boycott over Tymoshenko
Reuters - Friday 08 June 2012, 13:31
Ukraine's hopes that the Euro 2012 football finals will speed its integration with Europe's
democracies were fading on Friday because of a growing boycott
over its treatment of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.
Britain joined the unofficial boycott on Thursday by saying
government ministers would not attend the first batch of matches
in the former Soviet republic, which is co-hosting the
tournament with Poland, because of human rights concerns.
Germany and France are among other countries to have
announced similar moves and European Commission President Jose
Manuel Barroso said he had no plans to attend. A May summit was
scrapped in Ukraine when nine European leaders refused to come.
President Viktor Yanukovich still hopes the tournament,
starting on Friday, will show the world how far Ukraine has come
since it broke free of the Soviet Union in 1991 but the risk of
it backfiring after a deluge of bad publicity is increasing.
"Europe 2012 has provided a unique opportunity to present
our country to the world and to achieve European standards, not
only in organising the tournament but in the life of our
citizens," said Deputy Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov.
"If Ukraine does not cope well with the organisation of the
tournament and show it's a hospitable host, it will reflect on
its reputation," said Kolesnikov, who was in charge of
preparations for the finals.
The month-long tournament was starting in Poland on Friday
and the final will be held in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, on
July 1.
Despite opposition by its former Soviet masters in Moscow,
the country of 46 million people, sandwiched between Russia and
Western Europe, hopes eventually to join the 27-member European
Union.
But European leaders have been increasingly upset by the
treatment of Yanukovich's rival Tymoshenko, a former premier
sentenced to seven years in prison last October for abuse of
office after a trial the West says was politically motivated.
She alleged from jail in the city of Kharkiv in late April
that she had been physically manhandled by prison guards and is
now being treated for chronic back problems in the same city, a
Euro 2012 venue. The prison authorities deny she was assaulted.
"SELECTIVE JUSTICE"
"No ministers will be attending group games at Euro 2012," a
British Foreign Office spokesman said in London, which will soon
host the Olympic Games.
"We are keeping attendance at later stages of the tournament
under review in the light of ministers' busy schedules ahead of
the Olympics and widespread concerns about selective justice and
the rule of law in Ukraine."
Prince William and Prince Harry had never planned to go, a
spokesman said, although both are sport lovers. The Daily Mirror
newspaper expressed concern the boycott would whip up
anti-British sentiment and put British fans in danger.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel described Ukraine last month
as a dictatorship where people were suffering under
repression.
Barroso's spokeswoman said in April that he had no intention
of going to Ukraine "the way things stand now" and EU Justice
Commissioner Viviane Reding was also staying away.
Political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko of the Penta think-tank
in Kiev accused European politicians of grandstanding.
"Ukraine is becoming one of the themes that interest
European opinion and some politicians want to score points by
bringing up Tymoshenko," he said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Voloshyn said this week that
Ukraine's leaders would not be influenced by the boycott.
"Coming to a match or not will not change anything in the
Tymoshenko case and will only give the tournament a negative
image and create troubles that could be avoided," he said.
Ukraine has said concerns about racism - particularly in the
British media following a BBC documentary that showed racist
violence in a Ukrainian football stadium - are exaggerated.
"There is no racism in Ukraine. Many coloured footballers
play in our teams. Tens of thousands of students from Africa
study here and no one has ever complained about being badly
treated," the government press office quoted Prime Minister
Mykola Azarov as saying.
He added: "Ukraine is an extremely tolerant and democratic
country."
Racism has also caused concern in co-host Poland.
Dutch players said they heard monkey chants from the crowd
at a training session in Krakow, a spokeswoman for the Dutch
national team said on Friday.