The prime ministers of Poland and Ukraine on Friday promised their countries would co-host a "quality" Euro 2012 football championship, according to dpa. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk discussed preparations for the event with his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko, during an official visit to the Ukrainian capital Kiev. "I am 100 per cent sure that we will succeed," Tusk told reporters. The UEFA awarded the two countries hosting rights for the tournament in April. Since then both Poland and Ukraine have seen delays in starting preparations due to insufficient funding, and poor coordination between football and government authorities in both nations. "I hope that this meeting with the (Polish) prime minister, and agreements we have just singed, will change the opinion of (UEFA) head Michel Platini regarding the quality of preparations for Euro 2012," Tymoshenko said. "I believe that by June we will show progress that will please all the Euro 2012 organizers," she added. Platini and other senior UEFA officials in recent months had expressed worry at the slowness of Polish and Ukrainian preparations for the event, and even hinted Warsaw and Kiev might get the championship taken away from them, if work were not speeded up. Tusk and Tymoshenko would take personal control of Euro 2012 preparations in their respective countries, to accelerate efforts, the Interfax news agency reported. Both countries require massive cash injections and construction work, in order to host the event to the standards demanded by UEFA. Poland's greatest weakness is football infrastructure, with only one UEFA-standard stadium in the entire country, and no clear plan on how to build the four more needed. Ukraine by comparison possesses or will soon have sufficient stadiums, but dozens of hotels need to be built from the ground up, and thousands of kilometres of roadway and railroad be improved, to handle the million plus visitors expected during the one-month event.
