The Aftermath of Euro-2012: Spain, Poland and Ukraine

It's been almost two weeks since the Spaniards brought home theirwell-deserved Henri Delaunay Trophy, commemorating (and praising) their masterful performance on the pitch in Kiev. It's about time, then, to draw some conclusions in regard to the championship and sum it up in economic terms (and not in vein of the „players full of desire” comment like the one Alan Shearer made). Let's check how the three biggest winners of the event - Spain, Poland and Ukraine -fare in the aftermath of the tournament…

Spain: the country is still deep in budget deficit (exceeding itsallotted GDP percentage and lowering the GDP itself), with some signs pointing to a possibility of reducing the deficit by 2014. Yesterday, eurozone ministers released the following statement:

The Eurogroup supports the recently adopted Commission recommendation to extend the deadline for the correction of the excessive deficit in Spain by one year to 2014.

They're also simultaneously relaxing the 5.3% GDP deficit limit, aiding the failing Spanish banks (with EUR 30 bn coming at the end of the month, and additional maximum 70 bn to be dispersed over the coming months) and giving them till 2014 to bring the deficit to the green zone, i.e. 3% GDP limit. Interestingly, Spain's inabilityto regulate its deficit as far into the future as next year was also a hot-button issue at the last month's Euro summit.
As the Champions, Spanish football team got EUR 23 mln in prize money, which shouldgo some way in alleviating the overall economic stress that the banking crisis has put on the football industry. Until such time as Spain recovers, the winners of this (and the previous one) UEFA European Cup have a pretty much unique role to play: while in other countries its the people who are cheering for their teams, in Spain its Del Bosque's Eleven that's going to cheer up the whole country. They have a tough nut to crack, too: if they're to hold the record triple championship (this year marks Spain's third UEFA title, adding to their 1964 and 2008 victories) and expand on it, they'll have to crush their rivals in the upcoming World Championships in 2014…so let's hope by that time, Spain's woes are over and Los Futbolistas can concentrate on receiving cheers rather than giving them out.

Poland: the co-host of Euro-2012 didn't really come up to scratch, unfortunately. Starting with repeated riots and clashes with foreign fans, Poles didn't show their best on the pitch, either. But, perhaps more crucially, experts argue that Euro-2012 wasn't all that good for the local economy. According to rough estimates, Poland invested around EUR 25 bn in the last 4 years in preparation for the tournament, mostly investing and expanding on its infrastructure and roads. Thisamounts to a staggering (for a sporting event) 1.3% GDP. Polish government said some 60 000 jobs were created, but those aren't permanent nor well-paid posts. In fact, researchers from Capital Economics stated that

The bulk of the boost to growth has derived from increased investment, which has now taken place. Increased revenues from tourist spending are likely to be much smaller in comparison. Moreover, the key point is that any benefits from staging Euro 2012 will be swamped by the potential downside from the escalating crisis in the eurozone.

And they may be right, even though it's really too early to tell. German newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt informed that instead of staying in the hotels (which werevastly overpriced for the occasion), tourists simply jetted in and out of the country for any relevant matches taking place in Warsaw, Gdansk, Poznan or Wroclaw. This was especially evident for visitors from Czech Republic and Germany. On top of that, PBG/Hydrobudowa construction concern went bankrupt (the so-called „arrangement bankruptcy” which leaves some room for improvement but is a clear sign of lacking liquidity) last month, mostly as a result of building new roads and constructing the National Stadium in Warsaw for the tournament. Another construction giant, Polimex-Mostostal shows some disturbing signs as well, but that's mostly restricted to PolishStock Exchange for now. It's worse for Hydrobudowa, as their shares were pretty heavily invested into by the retirement funds and public investment companies, costing a lot of people a substantial amount of their savings. Despite all that, a recent OBOP (Polish Poll Agency) study shows that 88% of Poles think Euro-2012 has been organized well in Poland.

Ukraine: there's been fears that the loud nationalist minority of the country will have a detrimental effect on the tournament (MEPCharles Tannock even called for moving matches from Ukraine to Poland), but it seems that at worst, this post-Soviet state had the same riot-like problems as Poland. On the other hand, their team's modest (but great for a footablling debut) success on the pitch landed their FA „just” EUR 10 mln in prize money, which will definitely buoy the country's spirits, if not its economy. Authorities invested around EUR 11 bn in theenterprise, with around EUR 5.5 bln coming out from country's own pocket, and now the country has to deal with around USD 11.9 bn in debt. On top of that, they've been unable to secure another loan from the IMF to aid government budget, which surely had a negative impact on the overall state of preparedness for the sporting mega-event. It's not all dark though, not at all! According to RT (Russia Today), the tournament spells massive future increase in tourism in the otherwise rarely visited beautiful country, with hundreds of thousands of tourists flooding the streets of Kiev, Charkiv, Donetsk and Lviv during the championship; an estimated 300 000 crossed the country's border just to experience big football.

What is more important though, some of the Europeans have had the chance to see the country for the first time, and were rather pleasantly surprised. Kreshatik (Kiev's main street) has been turned into a giant fan zone for the duration of the tournament, delivering the country's capital estimated 5-6 million euro in revenue in drinks andincidentals alone. It might well be that Ukraine will benefit the most from the just-finished tournament in the coming years, and for sure we'll see more of them on the football pitches around Europe and worldwide.

 

VOCABULARY
Spaniard - Hiszpan
well-deserved - zasłużony
to commemorate - upamiętnić
to praise - chwalić, pochwalić
masterful - mistrzowski
performance - wyniki, osiÄ…gi
on the pitch - na boisku
to draw conclusions - wyciągnąć wnioski
in regard to sth - w odniesieniu do czegoÅ›
in vein of sth - podobnie do czegoÅ›, w stylu czegoÅ›
to fare - radzić sobie, pójść (jakoś)
in the aftermath of sth - w następstwie czegoś, po czymś
to exceed sth - wykroczyć ponad coś, przewyższyć coś
allotted - wyznaczony, określony, przeznaczony
GDP - PKB
to release - tu: opublikować
statement - opublikować
deadline - termin ostateczny
simultaneously - jednocześnie
to disperse - rozmieścić, rozlokować
inability - niezdolność
a hot-button issue - gorÄ…ca kwestia
summit - szczyt
to get X in prize money - otrzymać nagrodę w wysokości X
to go some way in doing sth - wiele/trochę w czymś pomóc
to alleviate - załagodzić, zmniejszyć
to cheer for sb - kibicować komuś
a tough nut to crack - ciężki orzech do zgryzienia
to expand on sth - zwiększyć coś, budować na czymś
to crush - zmiażdżyć
upcoming - nadchodzÄ…cy
woes - niedola, bieda
to come up to scratch - sprostać oczekiwaniom
riots - rozruchy, zamieszki
clash - starcie
crucially - zasadniczo, o zasadniczym znaczeniu
according to - zgodnie z, według
rough estimate - szacunkowa liczba, ilość w przybliżeniu
to amount to sth - stanowić coś, wynosić coś
staggering - oszałamiający
permanent - stały
post - stanowisko (pracy)
researcher - badacz
bulk - tu: ogół, gros czegoś
boost - czynnik pobudzajÄ…cy, wzmocnienie
to derive from - wywodzić się z, być wywołanym czymś
revenue - przychód
in comparison - w porównaniu
moreover - co więcej
benefits - korzyści
to stage sth - zorganizować coś
to swamp sth - zatopić coś, pogrążyć
downside - negatyw, minus
vastly - ogromnie
to jet somewhere - przylecieć gdzieś
evident - widoczny
to go bankrupt - zbankrutować
tournament - turniej, mistrzostwa
disturbing sign - niepokojący sygnał
Stock Exchange - giełda papierów wartościowych
retirement fund - fundusz emerytalny
substantial - znaczny
study - badanie, studium
minority - mniejszość
detrimental - szkodliwy
MEP - eurodeputowany
modest - skromny
to buoy sb's spirits - poprawić komuś nastrój
enterprise - przedsięwzięcie
to come out of sb's own pocket - kosztować kogoś, wydać na coś własne pieniądze/środki
to deal with sth - zająć się czymś, poradzić sobie z czymś
debt - zadłużenie
to secure a loan - zdobyć/uzyskać pożyczkę
impact - wpływ
overall - ogólny
state of preparedness - stan przygotowań
to spell sth for sb - oznaczać coś dla kogoś
to flood - zatapiać, zalewać coś
to turn sth into sth - zmienić coś w coś
capital - stolica
incidentals - wydatki drobne, nieprzewidziane wydatki

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