French President Francois Hollande revealed that despite all the terrorist attacks that have shocked Europe, France never even considered postponing or canceling the upcoming European Championship this summer.
This evening the first national team match will take place at the "Stede de France" stadium, after the terrorist attacks that killed 130 people. Last week, after the tragic events in Belgium, which claimed the lives of 35 people, the friendly match between Belgium and Portugal was canceled. However, Hollande revealed that this will not affect the upcoming championships and such events did not even make him consider the possibility of not hosting the 2016 European Championship.
"This is a huge event and although it is a sports championship, we wanted to turn it into a cultural, social, economic and even political event, taking into account the best qualities of these areas. This means that we will face the challenge of being together, respecting and tolerating each other, and thus fighting against anger, insecurity, and fear."
"We never even considered moving or canceling the championships. What would that say about France and all of Europe? We will face dangers and no one can deny that. We know what happened in Paris and were there ourselves. We also know what happened in Brussels. However, the European Championship is a fitting response to these attacks," said the President of France.
