You're reading: Netherlands could boycott Euro 2012 if situation with Tymoshenko does not improve

BRUSSELS – Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal has said that members of the Dutch government and the royal family will not attend Euro 2012 matches unless there is visible improvement in the situation with former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

"We are trying to exert maximum pressure. If the situation with the law and the treatment of prisoners, in particular, with Tymoshenko, does not improve, the Dutch government and the royal family will not come to Ukraine," Dutch media quoted Rosenthal as saying.

However, the final decision on the boycott has not yet been taken.

As reported, in October 2011, Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison over the signing of a gas supply contract with Russia in 2009. She has served her term in a penal colony in Kharkiv since late December 2011.