Brussels, 14/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 14 May, foreign affairs ministers discussed the situation in the Ukraine. Although they denounced the conditions in which the former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko is being detained, ministers were divided on whether the Euro 2012 football championship should be boycotted. EU High Representative Catherine Ashton said after their meeting that no decision had been taken and they would follow the situation and developments. The Belgian minister, Didier Reynders, said that, “presence of politicians or guarantees are meaningless in this context and I consider a political boycott indispensable”. His British counterpart, William Hague, said that personally, he had nothing to propose in this connection and explained that his government would continue to examine what position to adopt. He said that it is possible to play good football without too many ministers being present and Jean Asselborn from Luxembourg said that the decision on whether there should be a boycott was up to the UEFA.
Carl Bildt from Sweden said that whether to attend football matches was not the main instrument of European policy and stressed that the EU had much stronger instruments which it should use. Uri Rosenthal from the Netherlands said that “we still have time to see what will prove necessary with regard to developments in the Tymoshenko situation” before the Euro finals.
Both the German government and European Commission are expected to boycott the event. (CG/transl.fl)