Euro 2012 - Ukraine and Poland

Deputies of the Kyiv City Rada have passed a city target program to gear up to the Euro 2012 final. As many as 20 bn UAH will be allocated to fund a Kyiv program. 20 bn UAH will be attracted foreign investments.

The Kyiv leadership believes that the program will be fulfilled by 80 to 85% by 2010. Within the framework of gearing up to the Euro 2012 urgent problems in the transport sector, security, hotel business and health will be resolved.

Source:nrcu.gov.ua

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday he planned to meet with UEFA president Michel Platini after European soccer’s governing body criticised the lack of progress in preparations for Euro 2012.

At a meeting of the UEFA executive committee in Zagreb, the body warned Poland and Ukraine, which will co-host the European soccer championship, that they must speed up preparations, including work on new stadiums and infrastructure.

Platini said the next four to six months would be crucial.

“I was in touch with Mr Michel Platini today. We have made preliminary plans to meet here in Warsaw,” Tusk, who was sworn in as prime minister in November, told a news conference.

“I heard words that confirmed that the challenge is serious, but also give reasons for optimism. Nothing is lost.”

Tusk said Poland would reveal plans on Friday for a new national stadium in Warsaw, where the first match of Euro 2012 is scheduled to take place. The government also plans to present a new preparation calendar next week.

The choice of Poland and Ukraine as the first east European countries to host the European championship sparked criticism from some quarters that the two suffered from poor infrastructure and would have a difficult time bringing it up to date in time.

Their troubles have been exacerbated by recent political changes in both countries, which shifted attention away from the preparations.

(Reporting by Patryk Wasilewski, writing by Chris Borowski, editing by Justin Palmer)

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) - UEFA president Michel Platini warned Poland and Ukraine on Wednesday to avoid “critical slippages” in their preparations for co-hosting the 2012 European Championship.

After a year of political instability in both countries, Platini said the next few months would be vital for getting things on track for Europe’s showcase tournament.

“I have the distinct feeling that the next four to six months will be crucial in order to avoid any critical slippage in sports and public infrastructure projects and to protect the global credibility of the Euro project itself,” Platini said at the close of a two-day UEFA executive committee meeting.

His stern comments came amid recent speculation that UEFA could move the championship out of Poland and Ukraine because of organizational delays.

“UEFA is totally committed to do everything possible, in the next few months to assist and support the two associations … in order to guarantee the success of the project,” Platini said, adding that there are problems with “all infrastructure” in the two countries.

UEFA general secretary David Taylor said it is imperative that action is taken now.

“Political instability and infrastructure deficit are too big at this moment,” Taylor said. “It is too late to wait - we need action.”

UEFA said it had taken a “momentous decision” last April to award the championship to the two Eastern European countries, ahead of bids from Italy and a joint candidacy from Croatia and Hungary.

“It is clear that there has been a certain degree of political instability in both countries in 2007,” UEFA said in a statement. “However, this instability now seems to be over with newly established governments in each country, but there can be no doubt that the launch of investment-intensive projects, such as stadiums, airports and motorways has suffered from the instability.”

Platini urged the governments to be “aware of the crucial need to set up a governance and management structure to lead all the projects related to UEFA Euro 2012.”

Taylor also said that the prospect of possibly increasing the number of teams at UEFA tournaments to 24 will be discussed at Thursday’s UEFA congress in Zagreb.

“We will present a general project of enlarging UEFA tournaments from 16 to 24 teams,” he said. “This is not an easy decision. Right now, we don’t have an answer because we have to study it well.”

Source:foxsports.com

ZAGREB, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Poland and Ukraine were told to act on Wednesday after falling behind in their preparations to host the 2012 European soccer championship.

UEFA President Michel Platini said the next few months were “crucial” for the two countries, while UEFA’s general secretary David Taylor warned: “We need to accelerate the preparations. We need action now to make sure we are on schedule, we don’t need any more committees.”

UEFA did not go as far as saying the co-hosts risked losing the right to stage the tournament but said preparations, including work on stadiums as well as infrastructure surrounding airports, accommodation and transportation, must be improved with governmental backing.

Platini, who is committed to the 16-team tournament being staged in eastern Europe for the first time, added: “I have the distinct feeling that the next four to six months will be crucial in order to avoid any critical slippage in sports and public infrastructure projects and to protect the global credibility of the Euro project itself.”

A full report on Euro 2012, the second biggest event in the sport after the World Cup finals, was the main item on the agenda of a two-day executive committee meeting in the Croatian capital.

SHORT TIMESCALE

In a statement, UEFA said it recognised preparations had suffered because of political instability in the two countries since they were awarded the championship.

Taylor told a news conference: “Since awarding the tournament to Poland and Ukraine in April last year both countries have suffered a certain amount of political instability.

“However, this instability seems to be over but the timescales for getting investment-intensive projects such as stadiums, airports and motorways underway is very, very short and we are concerned at the lack of progress that was being made.”

He said UEFA had not considered any alternative host nation at this stage.

“Certain developments have to be in place before Euro 2008 this summer. We have assurances the two governments are committed to making it work.

“UEFA took a momentous decision in awarding the championship to central and eastern Europe and we are also fully committed to it being staged successfully.”

Polish FA president Michal Listkiewicz told Reuters: “The main conclusion is that we have to speed up our preparations to make up for the time we lost in last year’s political turbulence in both countries. The situation has improved in the last few months and there is no danger of not meeting all the requirements on time.”

Grigoriy Surkis, the president of the Ukraine FA told Reuters: “Unfortunately, a situation has emerged from extraordinary elections in both Poland and Ukraine last year but we are very confident that we will get the project back on track.”

“Both governments and FAs are ready to implement all that is required to organise the Euro 2012 finals in the best possible way.” (Additional reporting by Zoran Milosavljevic; Editing by Alison Wildey)

Corriere della Sera claims that EUFA president Michale Platini is concerned at the lack of progress Poland is making in preparation to joint host with Ukraine the Euro 2012 football championships.

On Tuesday, the Italian daily “Corriere della Sera” quotes Ukrainian and Italian representatives saying that Poland is falling behind with preparations for Euro 2012 football championship.

“Corriere della Sera” also cites Antonio Mataresse, the head of Lega Calcio, the organization running the Italian professional football leagues, who said that both Poland and Ukraine might “not make it” with the organization of the championships.

But Mataresse also said that he does not think that Italy, which lost the bid for organizing the championships to Poland and Ukraine, would be able to manage alone.

He is also quoted saying that he recently talked to UEFA president Michale Platini, who he said is “also worried” by the current situation.

In response, head of the Polish Football Association (PZPN) Micha? Listkiewicz said that there is no danger of the organization of Euro 2012 being taken away from Poland, but he stressed that the preparations have to be commenced as soon as possible. “Not after the tournament in Austria and Switzerland, as we planned before, but right away,” he said.

Source:mo

In the run-up to Euro-2012 football championship, 37 land sites for parking lots, two thirds of them located in the downtown area, are being sold via a tender, head of the city main department for architecture, construction and city development Stepan Lukashyk told the ZIK correspondent Jan. 15.

According to Mr. Lukashyk, special care in building underground parking lots must be paid to avoid any damage to the city’s buildings, many of them historical heritage sites.

Permission for underground construction can be given only following archeological surveying and tests, the city official said.

A multi-storey parking is also to be constructed near Lviv’s central stadium, Stepan Lukashyn added.

Lviv’s inefficient authorities are out to cash in on Euro-2012, Sendak exposes true motives behind Senyk’s resignation

“[Oblast council head] Senyk has finally realized that nothing good will come out of preparations for the Euro-2012 football tournament. Back-stage dealings are under way, with the city authorities trying to cash in on the tournament to line their pockets. Governor Olijnyk [a co-head of the Euro-2012 organizing committee with Liubomyr Senyk] has one more year in office. With Olijnyk out, Senyk, who has 5 years more to serve, will have to take the fall alone.” Senyk was committee co-chair but he didn’t lift a finger to allocate the landsite and start stadium construction,” former head of Lviv oblast council Mykhailo Sendak told ZIK.

If he was oblast council head now, he would do the same and resign from the committee, Sendak continues. “In all the 16 years of Ukraine’s independence this is the worst Lviv authorities. They are complete political losers and will not do anything positive in the region.”

The Lviv authorities are currently involved in shady deals with other cities to cash in on the football matches to be held in Lviv.

The reason why no investor to build a stadium has been found yet is that the Lviv authorities must have demanded very high kickbacks that frighten away investors, Sendak explains.

KYIV, Ukraine - A court has prohibited the construction of a shopping centre which had delayed the upgrading of the stadium where the 2012 European Championship final is scheduled to be held.

The modernization of the Olympic Stadium has been delayed due to a nearby shopping centre being built. UEFA had warned that the centre could make the stadium unsuitable by blocking some exit routes and compromising security.

Ukraine is co-hosting Euro 2012 with neighbouring Poland, and both countries face the challenge of building stadiums and upgrading dilapidated infrastructure.

Kyiv’s economic court ruled Monday that construction of the mall must be stopped and the two floors that have already been built torn down, according to a statement from the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The government says it is looking for ways to compensate the mall’s investors.

UEFA last year awarded the prestigious event to the former eastern bloc for the first time since Yugoslavia hosted it in 1976.

Source:canadianpress.google.com

The Lviv Oblast authorities will have to ensure smooth automobile traffic for football fans coming to Ukraine to see the matches. In all, about 1.5 thousand kilometers of highways must be built or reconstructed, from Ukraine’s western border to Lviv and further on to the eastern border of the Lviv Oblast, the ZIK correspondent reports, quoting one of oblast highly placed administrators, Stepan Lukashyk, as saying.

In this respect, no other Ukrainian oblast will face such a big challenge, as all the traffic will pass through the Lviv oblast. “In preparation for the championship we will cooperate with the Polish government to build seven new border-crossing points,” the official said.

Source:zik.com.ua

Interior Ministers of Poland and Ukraine have signed a declaration concerning co-operation in improving security during the finals of the EURO 2012 Football Championships.

Polish Interior Minister Grzegorz Schetyna stressed that the agreement is only a prelude to further concrete actions, which will take place in March after accepting a list of stadiums on which the matches will be played.

Schetyna said that the talks on transferring thousands of football fans has just started.

“This is a huge event and a huge challenge,” the Minister said.

Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Yuriy Lutsenko said that the talks concerned forming a Polish-Ukrainian EURO 2012 committee. The committee is to comprise of representatives of Poland’s and Ukraine’s Interior Ministries, UEFA representatives and those of other organisations dealing with EURO 2012 preparations.

Ukraine counts on joint actions towards improving the situation of the people living near the Polish-Ukrainian border after Poland’s entering the Schengen zone.

Source:jm

This was disclosed by Transport and Communications Minister Yosyf Vinsky at the press conference “Priority Tasks of the Transport and Communications Ministry of 2008.”

Other tasks include renewable shipping along the ?Danube-Black Sea? channel and restorization of passenger carriages, construction of a circle road and others. Yosyf Vinskyi also spoke about construction of a bridge over the Dnieper in Kyiv, to be funded at 1,520,000 UAH.

Source:nrcu.gov.ua