Ukraine dissolve Euro 2012 agency

Published on Wednesday 19 November 2008 21:52

UKRAINE'S government is dissolving an agency over- seeing preparations for Euro 2012 after European football body Uefa complained that it was inefficient.

Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Vasyunyk, quoted by local news agencies after a cabinet meeting, said the agency headed by a former cabinet minister would be replaced by a 50-strong "co-ordinating bureau" responsible to the government.

Ukraine, which is co-hosting the championship with Poland, has repeatedly come under fire for being slow to tackle the mammoth tasks required to modernise stadiums, hotels and transport networks.

Uefa president Michel Platini has made two visits to Kiev this year and Uefa warned the two countries in September that their role as hosts could be in jeopardy if they did not make "the necessary efforts".

Uefa officials have denied any contingency plan exists to move the tournament if Poland or Ukraine failed to meet requirements. But it has been suggested Spain, Germany and Italy are possible alternatives. Scotland had also shown interest in bidding for the event if it was withdrawn from the east European co-hosts.

The president of Ukraine's football federation, Grigory Surkis, told local media: "Uefa has consistently stressed that it is not happy with the agency's work."

Poland said in July they were prepared to provide six of the eight venues needed for the tournament if their co-hosts are not ready on time. In Warsaw, Polish Sports Minister Miroslaw Drzewiecki said he was unconcerned by what he saw as a technical shake-up.

"I am not worried by this at all. The decision is just an adjustment to the requirements and expectations of Uefa," Drzewiecki told TVP Info news channel. "Their wish was for Ukraine to implement a similar model to the one we have in Poland."

Senior Ukrainian, Polish and Uefa officials were upbeat last week about preparations for Euro 2012 and said the two former communist neighbours would be successful hosts.

The cabinet meeting also endorsed technical and financial specifications for the renovation of Kiev's main stadium at an estimated cost of more than two billion hryvnias (226 million).

Both countries have had problems building or renovating stadiums – Kiev lost a year through legal wrangling over an adjacent shopping centre and then switched general designers.