Dutch Ambassador to Ukraine Pieter Jan Wolthers has praised the organization of the Euro 2012 European Football Championship in Ukraine.
“Our evaluation system goes from a scale of one, which is the worst figure, to 10. I can give a mark of eight or nine,” he said, responding to questions from journalists in Kyiv on Monday.
At the same time, when asked why he cannot give the preparations for Euro 2012 a mark of 10, he said: “Because such a mark is never given.”
According to the ambassador, the Dutch fans are returning home with very good impressions of Ukraine, and they are happy that they had the opportunity to visit the country.
“Ukraine is a beautiful country, especially Kharkiv, where they [the Dutch fans] watched three games. Very hospitable and friendly people live in Ukraine,” Wolthers said.
He said each Dutch fan who went to Ukraine for Euro 2012 would become a sort of ambassador of Ukraine in the Netherlands, promoting the country at home.
He said that the Dutch fans had not expected any negative things from Ukraine due to the fact that they did not know much about the country.
“In my opinion, this championship has largely contributed to the fact that they [the Dutch] discovered Ukraine,” Wolthers said.
