Wprost: Portugal shares its experiences

José Luis Arnaut, responsible for organization of EURO 2004 in Portugal, today the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Portuguese Parliament, and a former minister for Portuguese presidency in the EU, shared experiences of Portugal in hosting of EURO 2004 in an interview for „Wprost” weekly.

Arnaut stressed that the same questions were asked in  Portugal as Poles are asking today, e.g. does it make sense to invest in a football tournament when there is shortage of money for health care or education. The questions were quickly forgotten, and today the Portuguese are proud that they organized the best EURO tournament so far.

He reminded that the sheer size of the undertaking required of the Portuguese government to prepare many plans, procedures or amendments to legislation. A vision of arrival of millions of fans and tourists in a way enforced a reform of the entire public administration. He added that it was necessary to train and coordinate work of the police, medical services, border guards, to improve the efficiency of work of civil servants. Arnaut assessed that construction of the stadiums was hardly a big problem compared to the above. Asked how we could manage on time with all investments in just five years when the nation are complaining about lack of visible progress, Arnaut reassured that it was impossible to start construction works right away. In Portugal the first visible signs of investments did not become apparent until a year, two years ago following the announcement of the UEFA decision. He added that the final works – including those at the construction of the stadiums – we completed just two weeks before the official opening of the tournament.

Poles are much troubled by the prospects of the fate of new stadiums after EURO ends. Arnaut agreed that their maintenance is a challenge but EURO increases interest in football, which indirectly solves the problem of stadiums’ maintenance after the tournament. In Portugal, where football is very popular, most facilities serve league clubs and matches are all booked. He said that although as of today Polish league is poor, hosting of the tournament would contribute to popularization of football in our country. He added that fans would be more willing to come to new and functional facilities and take their entire families with. Besides, the stadiums constructed in Portugal have office and retail spaces for hire, and they are also used to organize concerts or company events.

Asked about expenditure for organization of the championships, Arnaut said that it was difficult for him to estimate the total cost of the event because money came from various sources: from private businesses, from the state budget, a part came from EU structural funds. For example Portuguese stadiums were constructed by private investors or municipal authorities, who are now their owners. The state budget only co-financed those investments. On the other hand public finding financed construction of the infrastructure: access roads, parking lots, launch of new lines of public transport etc.

Arnaut stressed that now after several years the financial balance of EURO 2004 is a positive one. Thanks to the tournament Portugal became recognizable in the world. The government allocated huge money to promotion of the country, particularly in the tourism context. He recapitulated by indicating that preparations for EURO 2004 gave boost to the economy and public offices became more friendly and effective.

Source: „Don’t panic”, Krzysztof Trębski, „Wprost”, 24th June 2007