Brussels, 24/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - The informal summit of EU27 leaders in Brussels on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 May enabled Polish prime minister Donald Tusk to end recent speculation about a boycott of the Euro 2012 Football Championships in Ukraine. After the meeting, Tusk said that everyone had understood that boycotting the championship would be the worst solution.
Not wishing to downplay the seriousness of the treatment of former Ukraininan prime minister Ioulia Timochenko, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence, Tusk urged the EU's leaders over dinner to not confuse disapproval of the Ukrainian government with enthusiasm for sport. His message seems to have gone down well because, he said, everyone had welcomed with some relief the suggestion by Poland and Ukraine, without this being any kind of approval of the Ukrainian government's behaviour towards Ioulia Timochenko. (JK/transl.fl)