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2012 05 15

EU refuses unanimous boycott of football championship in Ukraine

European Union member states have no plans to make a unanimous decision calling on political leaders to boycott the upcoming European Football Championship in Ukraine, Lithuania's Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Evaldas Ignatavičius said following a Monday meeting of EU ministers.
Evaldas Ignatavičius
Evaldas Ignatavičius / URM nuotr.

"There's no common position. The majority opinion was that we should not mix sports and politics," Ignatavičius told BNS by phone from Brussels.

"It was decided that countries will perhaps choose one or the other model of behavior as the championship approaches, will see what is happening in Ukraine and what relations with Ukraine are. But that will be individual choices of individual countries," the vice-minister said.

The football championship boycott has been considered following the Eu member states' resentment over the treatment of the jailed Ukrainian opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko who claimed to have been beaten in prison and later went on a hunger strike.

Due to huge pressure from the West, the Ukrainian authorities agreed to transfer Tymoshenko to hospital where she was visited by Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė on Friday.

The European Commission has already announced that its leaders will not go to the football championship Ukraine is co-hosting with Poland.

Ignatavičius also said at the meeting that Europe should continue a dialogue with Ukraine and should not choose the path of isolation to push for changes in Ukraine and its rapprochement with European values.

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