Review of Polish press

The Minister of Sport Tomasz Lipiec thinks that the planned Baltic Arena stadium is too big and proposes reduction of the stadium capacity from 44 thousand to 30–35 thousand spectators. The President of Gdansk Paweł Adamowicz replies that such a change would deprive Gdansk of the possibility to host EURO 2012 quarter-final matches and therefore he does not see it possible to construct a stadium with capacity smaller than 40 thousand spectators.

The cost of construction of the Baltic Arena stadium is PLN 700 million, with 15% covered from the state budget. The remaining expenditure must be covered with EU funds and the local government budget. The city, however, is capable of financing only 15% of the investment value. (Dziennik Bałtycki)
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The Pomeranian Organizing Committee for EURO 2012 will be appointed with deputy voivode Piotr Karczewski as the head.

Pomeranians think that the city authorities will manage to construct the new stadium on time. (Dziennik Bałtycki)
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The Łódź Organizing Committee for EURO 2012 will be appointed. At the same time on 9th May the Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński expanded the composition of the Organizing Committee for EURO 2012 by appointing, among other persons, the Łódź voivode Helena Pietraszkiewicz. (Łódzki Urząd Wojewódzki)
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Experts predict that EURO 2012 shall bring gigantic profits in the media sector. The underlying reason for such a development will be constituted by development of other economy sectors, mainly of telecommunications. New operators will expend huge sums for advertising. (Dziennik)
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The Sejm Committee for Physical Culture and Sport will turn to the prime minister with a postulate to earmark in the budget additional PLN 200 million for investments related to EURO 2012.

Committee members estimated that a preliminary cost of the construction and modernization of faculties in Warsaw, Poznań, Gdansk, Wrocław, Chorzów and Krakow should amount to PLN 2.5 billion, with local governments of the cities committing PLN 374 million. The remaining funding is to be obtained from the Physical Culture Development Fund and EU funds. (Dziennik Polski Sportowy)
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On Wednesday the European Commission approved of the Polish plan for expending EU assistance funds in the years 2007- 13, which amount to over EUR 67 billion. Now the government will have to develop detailed strategies for expenditure of the funds. One of the main tasks of the next negotiation phase will be a modification of operating programmes to take account of the hosting of EURO 2012. The government hopes that the EU money will help construct 1.5 thousand kilometres of motorways, among other things. (Gazeta Wyborcza)
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Poznań will receive EUR 30 million from the budget reserve for the stadium, which is a top priority, although not the only one, investment, related to EURO 2012. (Gazeta Wyborcza Poznań)
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The Ministry of Transport want to overhaul over 650 kilometres of tracks by 2012. In two years the journey by rail between Warsaw and Gdansk will take two hours. Unfortunately until that time the travel time will be 1.5 hours longer than it is now. (Pulls Biznesu)
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The General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways will receive from two ministries, of Finance and of Regional Development, the total of PLN 1.79 million for this year’s investments. (Rzeczpospolita)
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The organizing committee for EURO 2012 will be established at today’s session of the Council of Warsaw.
(Życie Warszawy)
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The National Sports Authrority cancelled the planned talks with merchants operating in Stadion X-lecia in Warsaw. The agreement with Damis Company, which holds the stadium area on lease, expires on 30th June this year.

- It is up to the city to submit to the merchants other proposals for the location of the market – said the Minister of Sport Tomasz Lipiec. He also informed that in the forthcoming days a competition would be announced for an architectural project of the National Sports Centre. (Rzeczpospolita)
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10th May 2007