Serena Giusti - 14/05/2012

     Back in April 2007 when Poland and Ukraine took on the joint organization of the European Football Championship for 2012, the EU member countries saw this as another sign that the European Neighbours Policy was working – the aim being to boost cooperation between greater European and Europe east of the new frontier. Poland seemed to be achieving an ambition she had nursed ever since applying for Union membership: to act as a bridge between East and West, and become a benchmark of transition for our eastern neighbours. When she was rotating president of the EU, Polish diplomats worked hard to improve the political climate in Belarus and Ukraine. To Warsaw and Kiev, Euro2012 was also an enticing economic opportunity and a spur to modernisation.

     Ukraine was torn between the attractions of Europe and Russian incentives; her political elite thought that taking part in running Euro2012 might strengthen relations with Brussels and stamp the country with a glamorous new image. In actual fact arranging the European Championship has been fraught with organizational and political difficulty. First, Ukraine lagged alarmingly behind in preparing the transport and hosting infrastructure; then scandals came to light over the public work contracts which were being steered towards a restricted band of companies and cronies of President Yanukovych’s: ever since he entered office, he has been weaving a web of political and economic relations, bolstering the power of his own family and entourage so as to evade the clutches of the oligarchs who backed his electoral campaign.

     Lastly, there is the seven-year jail sentence passed on former prime minister Yulia Timoshenko – leader of the Orange Revolution in 2004 – for abuse of power in signing a supply agreement for Russian gas. Deeming the ruling to be “politically motivated”, Brussels decided last December to put off signing an Association Agreement with Ukraine, at least until the parliamentary elections in 2012. The Agreement was to include a Deep and comprehensive free trade area (involving goods and services, convergence of legislation, intellectual property rights, energy, public contracts and rules of competition). Photos have been circulating showing Tymoshenko bearing the marks of a beating, apparently administered by her warders. Her state of health was already precarious and all the more so after her decision to go on a hunger strike.

     The upshot is that chancellor Merkel and other leaders have declined their invitations to attend Euro2012 matches being held on Ukrainian soil. On the part of the European Commission, first Reding, commissioner for justice, announced he would not be taking part in the opening ceremony on 8th June, and now President Barroso has likewise threatened to boycott the occasion unless there is a swift improvement in the human rights situation. Meanwhile at least ten European leaders, including German president Gauck, have pulled out of the European summit of central and eastern European countries being organized by Ukraine for this May at Yalta. Such threats of boycotting have nettled the Ukrainian government. Germany is accused of reviving Cold War tactics by politicising sport. The Ukrainian affair is now in danger of causing tension between the EU and Poland, co-organizer of Euro2012. Polish president Komorowski has insinuated that there are other reasons behind the boycott: certain member states are allegedly using the human rights issue to obstruct Ukraine’s transition towards the EU.

     Komorowski points out substantial differences between the Ukrainian situation and other previous boycotts, such as the Moscow Olympics 1980; besides, some prominent European leaders (France, Bulgaria, Holland and Finland) did not hesitate to attend the 2008 Olympics inauguration in Beijing; and again, the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix took place quite regularly despite the chorus of protests. Komorowski also argues that boycotting the European Championships might prove counterproductive, driving Ukraine into the arms of Moscow. The same fears were widely voiced when Brussels decided not to complete the Association Agreement. The embarrassing contretemps of Euro2012 thus highlights some major issues. Once again, we note our various European diplomats’ inability to coordinate their decisions or keep in line with European institutions which face the additional difficulty of “conditioning” domestic policy in certain countries for whom membership is not an option.

     And then the classic dilemma: will sanctions against those in power not finish by penalising civil society, amid frustration and resentment? The European Championship has served to simplify the alarming situation of Ukraine: Europe’s leaders need to weigh developments inside the country more carefully, especially as an important election draws near.

Serena Giusti
(Università Cattolica, Milan)