Euro-2012 closes in Kyiv, election campaigns to start

The UEFA 2012 European Football Championships came to a close yesterday in Kyiv. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych attended the final match, in addition to several foreign dignitaries including Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rahoy, Spanish Crown Prince Felipe Pablo Alfonso and Princess Letizia, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. UEFA President Michel Platini declared the event a “success” and Komorowski declared that it was a step for Ukraine toward the European Union.

Brad Wells: The strong showing of top European dignitaries at the final in Kyiv takes away some of the political sting after several countries snubbed attendance at earlier group matches held in Ukraine. However, we expect the “success” of the event to be relatively short-lived as officials have done nothing to assuage lingering European concerns about democratic backsliding and respect for the rule of law. These issues should continue to intensify in the coming months as Ukraine’s parliamentary election is now a little over three months away and official campaigning is due to start in a month. With key opposition leaders Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko still behind bars, the stage is already set for most international observers to declare the election unfair, meaning that Ukraine could find itself further and further isolated from Europe as 2012 comes to a close.