Monday, 23.01.2012

Visa requirements for Euro 2012 fans for the period of championship should be cancelled or at least facilitated. This opinion was expressed by the president of UEFA Michel Platini. He applied to the countries receiving the tournament - Ukraine and Poland - with request to decide mutually the question of visa entry for tourists which are going to attend the matches of continental championship this summer.
"The problem of entry visas is a political problem, - Michel Platini believes. - We need some agreement between Ukraine and Poland so that the fans wouldn't have any complications. I know for instance that Russian citizens do not need any visa for Ukraine, but they need it for Poland. The Europeans have the opposite situation: they don't need visa for Poland, but need one for Ukraine". "I hope Ukraine and Poland will come to agreement about simplification of visa system", - the Head of Union of European Football Associations expressed his confidence.
It must be noted that the citizens of a large majority of the EU countries can enter Ukraine without visa. Currently the only country-participant of final part of European championship, which has a visa system with Ukraine, is Croatia. But even for it he situation is going to change soon. The local organizational committee "Euro 2012 Ukraine" has already applied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with suggestion to put in a visa free regime of entry to Ukrainian territory for the citizens of Croatia during the period from the 1st of May till July, 15th of 2012.
As the director of Euro 2012 in Ukraine Markiyan Lubkivsky noted, "this step will not only let the participants and guests of the tournament to immerse themselves gladly into atmosphere of football festival, but also will contribute to improvement of the image of Ukraine as a hostess of Euro 2012".
He also underlined that in spite of the results of final draw according to which Croatia national football team is to play all group matches in Poland, there is a chance for the team to reach the next stage and participate in playoff in Ukraine. "Croatia is famous for considerable fans movement, and we drew attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to necessity of proper preparation for probable coming of Croatian fans", - the director of tournament Euro 2012 in Ukraine noted. At present Ukrainian and Croatian sides carry on negotiations about favourable terms of crossing of Ukrainian boundaries by citizens of Croatia.
As for Ukrainian fans to which Poland used to promise visa free regime for the period of Euro 2012, it sure seems that there's no need to cherish hopes. The Polish side has recently announced that it is not going to cancel visas for Ukrainians and citizens of other countries. The only thing the fans can count on is getting visas with simplified procedure. The cherished passport endorsement allowing entering the territory of Poland can be gained by showing a ticket for one of the matches of the tournament, which is going to take place in Poland.
In addition to that, for Ukrainian and Russian fans the government of Poland is planning to organize a separate queue without the need of previous registration through Internet. The MFA of Poland also noted that those from the list of people for whom the entry to Schengen zone countries or Poland is prohibited, will be denied a visa.
