EURO 2012 – one year of preparatory activity at the Ministry of Interior and Administration

It is been a year since on 18 April 2007 Poland and Ukraine were chosen as hosts of the European Football Championships in 2012.

On 18 April 2007 at bout 11.45 am in Cardiff Michel Platini, Head of the UEFA announced who had been chosen to host the championships. For the Ministry of Interior and Administration preparing EURO 2012 has been one of the main tasks.

The Ministry of Interior and Administration begun preparations immediately after the announcement of the decision that Poland and Ukraine would host the championships.
Below we present recent information concerning preparatory activity of the Ministry carried out for the last few months in order to organise one of the biggest sports events on our continent.

Experience and future

As soon as on 18 January 2008 the Minister of Interior and Administration appointed a team for coordinating activities of services supervised by the Ministry of Interior and Administration in relation to the organisation of EURO 2012 Football championships.
The team is composed of heads of units of services supervised by the Ministry. The team is headed by the Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Interior and Administration Adam Rapacki.

The team will be responsible among others for setting up a strategy for actions to be undertaken by the Ministry of Interior and Administration in relation to EURO 2012, including those concerning public safety and order, rescue readiness and crisis management issues.

Within the Team thematic working groups responsible for preparing analytical and conceptual documents will function.

Similar teams were also created in services supervised by the Ministry of Interior and Administration.

Witin this cooperation, a working group for securing large-scale sports events of international character was established. The group is composed of French, Spanish, German, British and Italian representatives. Austria and ukraine were also invited to take part in works led by the group. The appointment of this group was aimed at getting experience and good practice from countries which had organised mass sports events before. Including Ukraine in the group will enable our partners to get acquainted with other EU Member States experience.

A unit was also appointed within the Department of Public Security at the Ministry of Interior and Administration, especially dedicated to perform tasks related to EURO 2012 – The Unit for Euro 2012 and securing mass sports events. Tasks carried out by the Unit are mostly related to preparing new organisational and legislative solutions. They also concern coordination of joint actions by Polish and Ukraininan services and bodies in the field of public order and safety.

Poznań and Lviv together for EURO

Among measures taken by services supervised by the Ministry of Interior and Administration in the field of cooperation with competent services in Ukraine, special attention should be paid to the project "Poznań and Lviv together for EURO 2012", carried out by Voivodeship Police HQs and the Lvov oblast militia. The project enabled an exchange of experience and information on procedures and regulations related to security of large-scale sports events. Polish police and Ukrainian militia units representatives on whose territory Euro 2012 is to be held participated in the project.
At the meeting organised upon the closing of the project between the representatives of the Polish and Ukrainian Ministries of Interior, issues concerning the cooperation between Poland and other countries in the field of exchange of information and experience in securing large-scale international sports events were discussed.

Polish-Ukrainian declaration of cooperation

Among the most important EURO preparatory events was the visit by the Ukrainian Minister of Interior Yuri Lucenko in Poland. The Ukrainian delegation was in Poland on 21 - 22 January 2008. At the meeting with the management of the Ministry of Interior and Administration issues concerning the Polish-Ukrainian cooperation in securing EURO 2012 were discussed. The result of the visit was the signing of the Declaration of cooperation for security of the football championships finals UEFA EURO 2012 by the Minister of Interior and Administration of the Republic of Poland and the Minister of Interior of Ukraine.
Actions contained in the declaration would consist, among others, on setting up a detailed cooperation strategy concerning security of EURO 2012 and appointing a Committee for Security composed of representatives of ministries of interior of both countries. The Committee will be responsible for coordination and implementation of security strategy for EURO 2012.

Commitments towards UEFA

The Committee was created based on commitments of Poland and Ukraine contained in the Application Documents to UEFA EURO 2012 championships finals. Regular meetings of experts responsible for each preparatory activity related to the security of EURO 2012 are also planned as well as actions are to be carried out in order to unify Polish and Ukrainian solutions in securing large-scale sports events, conferences and seminars with the participation of guests from countries hosting similar events are also planned.
Details about areas of cooperation which result from the Declaration were agreed upon during the working visit by representatives of the Ministry of Interior and Administration and National Police HQs in Kiev. During the visit, the following questions were agreed.: official communication channels, persons responsible for coordination of contacts between the Polish and Ukrainian ministries of interior and the National Police HQs, areas to be taken into account in the joint security strategy for EURO 2012.

Interdepartmental cooperation

Within current cooperation with other institutions, a number of meetings and agreements were done, including the Ministry of Spots and Tourism and the National Coordinator for EURO 2012security (PL 2012 company). At the meeting initiatives related to securing EURO 2012 taken by the Ministry of Interior and Administration were discussed. Moreover, Polish police liaison officer in Kiev is also responsible for contacts and agreement with Ukraine.
As a result of giving Poland the opportunity to co-host the EURO 2012 Football Championships a number of postulates were made on the necessity to begin works on amendments to the law on securing large-scale sports events.
On 5 February 2008, a debate was held at the Ministry of Interior and Administration about the safety and security of large-scale events. This initiative was aimed at setting up a basis for a draft law on security and safety of large-scale events or a draft law concerning only security of football matches through identification of areas where such regulations are necessary.
Representatives of institutions responsible for each area related to safety and security of large-scale events and performing tasks which have an impact on the safety and security of such events. It is worth mentioning that the list of proposed and discussed regulations is very large.
The main points of the planned amendment are as follows:

Different requirements for entertainment and artistic events and sports events, including simplified procedures of issuance of permits for organising a large-scale artistic and entertainment events,
Legislation defining tasks and competences of information services of the party that organises a large-scale event – introduction of stewarding,
Regulate the stadium ban issue, including the possibility to deny entry to large-scale events for unlawful acts commited abroad.

Together in Austria and Switzerland

Current works of the Ministry are focused on actions aiming at getting examples of good practice and experience form other countries. Polish police officers and Ukraininan militia will ensure the security and safety of this year's European championships in Austria and Switzerland. Thanks to this experience it will be possible to ensure more efficiently safety and security to football fans at Euro 2012.
In relation to EURO 2008, during the visit to Poland by the Austrian Minister of Interior Günther Platter, a common declaration will be signed on 28 April between the Minister of Interior and Administration of the Republic of Poland and the Federal Minister of Interior of Austria. The Declaration will concern cooperation in the field of security and safety at European Football Championships in 2008 and will be related to cooperation in terms of security, especially in the field of public order and counter-terrorism during the preparatory period and during the event, as well as delegation of police forces to Austria.

As far as logistic and financial aspects are concerned, services supervised by the Ministry of Interior and Administration are carrying out an analysis aiming at identifying the needs in this matter, including those related to equipment purchase and trainings – for example language courses especially for police officers from prevention and road traffic units which could have contact with foreigners.