© EuroFootball.com
Polish officials rushed to reject the allegedly unfounded criticism of this country, together with Ukraine seeking to host the 2012 European Championship, infrastructure problems.
Next Wednesday in the Welsh capital of Cardiff, the UEFA leadership will decide who to entrust with hosting the prestigious championships. Hungary-Croatia and Italy have also put forward their candidacies.
The main reason for pessimists' fears is transport problems and the condition of stadiums in neighboring countries of Lithuania. However, according to the statement of the Polish Minister of Communication Jerzy Polaczek, 28 billion euros, mostly received from the European Union, will be allocated to solve the problems.
"19 billion euros will be used to improve the quality of roads, railways and air communication, and the government of Poland will allocate several billion more," Polaczek said at a specially organized press conference. "All work will be done if we receive the right to host the championship."
Polaczek also noted that the government has already decided to accelerate the construction of a new motorway passing through the southern part of Poland and connecting neighboring Germany with Ukraine, which should be completed by 2012 - three years earlier than planned.
However, critics claim that even this road will not reduce the huge distances between states. An example is the 2,000 kilometer distance from the northern Polish city of Gdansk to the southern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
Meanwhile, Minister of Sports Tomasz Lipiecas confirmed that at least 500 million euros will be allocated for the construction of new stadiums and the reconstruction of old ones.
