Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I anticipate there will be political representation at Ireland's Euro 2012 group stage matches, all of which take place in Poland. As regards Ukraine, the European Union had made its concerns known to the authorities there about politically motivated trials and the conditions of detention of Ms. Tymoshenko. High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, has called on the Ukrainian authorities to ensure her right to appropriate medical assistance. I fully support that call. I discussed Ukraine with my EU Foreign Minister colleagues in Brussels on 14 May and we agreed that further progress on the EU's association agreement with Ukraine would require a number of positive steps on the resolution of the issue of politically motivated trials, including Ms. Tymoshenko's detention, and the free and fair conduct of the parliamentary elections due to take place in October.

On the issue of attending matches in Ukraine, there is no common EU position. A number of political figures have made it known that they do not intend to visit Ukraine while Ms. Tymoshenko is imprisoned or will not attend matches in Ukraine during the championships. An alternative view has been expressed that a sports boycott would not be an effective tool of persuasion or could send an unintended signal to the wider Ukrainian public. Individual member states will need to assess this question for themselves.

For my own part, I have no official travel plans that would entail attendance at a match in Ukraine during the championships. However, I cannot at this time rule out a visit to Ukraine at some point this year, including in my separate capacity as chairman-in-office of the OSCE as this is a forum in which Ukraine plays an important role and it will assume the chairmanship-in-office next year.

See this speech in context