You're reading: One-Year Countdown

Markiyan Lubkivsky is a veteran diplomat who is facing his toughest job yet: being an ambassador to his own nation.

In July 2009, Lubkivsky – then ambassador to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina – put his 14-year Foreign Ministry career on hold to start work for the Union of European Football Associations, coordinating efforts to help Ukraine prepare to co-host the Euro 2012 soccer championship with Poland.

The first match kicks off in Warsaw on June 8, 2012; Ukraine hosts its first game in Kyiv a day later.

“This is the hardest diplomatic experience I’ve ever had,” Lubkivsky said in an interview just one year before the soccer tournament starts. “On the one hand, I’m a Ukrainian patriot, I was born in this country…, on the other, I have to represent UEFA’s interests.”

All the hard work is paying off with a resounding vote of confidence on June 7 from Lubkivsky’s UEFA boss.

“Thanks to the commitments made by all concerned parties in Ukraine, our doubts have been wiped out,” said Gianni Infantino, UEFA general secretary.

A farmer grazes his cows in front of a 30,000-seat football stadium under construction in Lviv on June 7. One year before it hosts the biggest event in its two decades of independence, Ukraine is showing signs that it will be ready. While construction of stadiums in Lviv and Kyiv remains sluggish, backers are confident. “Ukraine is ready. There is no chance it will not be ready,” said Kharkiv billionaire Oleksandr Yaroslavsky. (AFP)

Besides working closely with government officials, Lubkivsky works with the four host cities of Lviv, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Donetsk on a variety of difficult issues. There are currently 57 UEFA-mandated projects in the pipeline, ranging from transportation, accommodation and venues to safety and security.

“The only opportunity to succeed and survive is to find a way to communicate to different groups and to be the go-between,” Lubkivsky said. “I’m this kind of manager.”

Ukraine’s preparations faced setbacks because of the global economic crisis that cut the nation’s gross domestic product 15 percent in 2009, requiring the nation to turn to the International Monetary Fund for a $16 billion bailout.

Coupled with the political deadlock between ex-President Viktor Yushchenko and ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine wasn’t moving forward as fast with Euro 2012 preparations as UEFA would have liked.

Consequently, Ukraine was in danger of losing its position as a co-host as construction projects stalled and UEFA’s trust waned.

“This period of preparation was extremely hard,” said the 40-year-old Lviv native. “This is a unique and new project for Ukraine. We’ve never organized something like this.”

But two years later and 28 kilograms lighter, Lubkivsky said the worst is behind him – and Ukraine.

Once President Viktor Yanukovych took office on Feb. 25, 2010, the government shifted into high gear to overhaul its creaking Soviet infrastructure. Construction of new roads, hotels, airports and stadiums took off, at a cost of several billions of dollars in public and private money.

Medical personnel, police officers and customs and border guards are learning English. Up to 12,000 volunteers are being recruited in the host cities, 2,500 of whom UEFA will manage.

“I think we’ve overcome all major problems…I’m absolutely confident we’re on track,” Lubkivsky said.

“They [previous government officials] lost a lot of time and these guys [in the current government] aren’t happy because they have to run, they’re in a tunnel and the train is coming. And I understand them. Things are very complicated … they really have no time,” Lubkivsky said of the huge tasks ahead.

Markiyan Lubkivsky

UEFA wants to start leasing the four stadiums in each host city by next May. Euro 2012 tourists are expected to start trickling in by that time.

According to UEFA ticketing statistics, Dutch, Russians and Germans favored matches in Kharkiv and Doenetsk while Poles expressed interest in Lviv. Ukrainians and Poles purchased roughly 80 percent of the 580,000 tickets made available to the general public.

At least 700,000 visitors are expected to visit Ukraine between June 8 and July 1, 2012.

In addition to building and improving roads that link Ukraine’s western border with Lviv as well as the other host cities, Kyiv wants to have its newly built Olympic stadium operational by November. That is when it is scheduled to play a friendly match against Germany.

The most important thing is not finalizing construction but to make everything operational in time.

Markiyan Lubkivsky

Kyiv plans to finish its international airport terminal D by December, while Donetsk is still working on having enough hotel rooms available.

Kharkiv still needs to improve roads in the city, install signage with Latin letters and bolster the number of five-star hotels.

Lviv is building a new arena, which is more than 50 percent completed, and still needs to improve the 80 kilometer road to Truskavets where tourists will stay to make up for the shortage of hotel rooms in Lviv.

“These are open issues … but we’re focused. …The most important thing is not finalizing construction but to make everything operational in time,” said Lubkivsky.
He’s got one year left, as of June 8, with the clock ticking. Asked what he plans on doing after Euro 2012, Lubkivsky said he’ll “take a very long vacation.”

Kyiv Post staff writer Mark Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected] [email protected]