Krakow, 17/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - On the sidelines of the informal meeting of European sports ministers, Poland had ample opportunity to ask specialists to demonstrate the economic repercussions of the Euro 2012 football championship. According to Jakub Borowski, an economist at the Warsaw School of Economics, “the cumulative effects of the Euro for the period 2008-2020 should increase the national wealth from 27 to 30 billion zlotys (€7-8 billion), or the equivalent of two percentage points on the gross domestic product”.
This sports competition is a driving force behind Polish investment in infrastructure: there are 400 projects related to it in total throughout the country, for a total of #25 million, 20% of which has been funded by the European Commission. Obviously, there is the construction and renovation of sporting infrastructure, such as stadia in the four host cities of the competition, but all of this work represents just 7% of the total expenditure related to Euro 2012. The lion's share of the budget goes to transport: 1,000 kilometres of motorways and more than 600 kilometres of railways to be built or modernised. This infrastructure will facilitate links between the various cities of the country. Airports are being renovated, the host cities are multiplying the work. The country is expecting major positive consequences from this sports event. Between 90,000 and 1 million visitors are expected in June, creating an estimated tourism benefit of €130 million. (VW/transl.fl)