BREAD INSTEAD OF GAMES!
In June and July 2012, Poland is going to host Euro2012, the European Football Championship. Workers' Initative is an initatior and a co-organizer of a protest on 10th of June in Poznan, during the first footbal match. The coalition of Polish feminist, anarchist and worker activists is mobilising for a protest on 10th of June in Poznan, West Poland, where the first football match is going to take place.
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Today, we know that it will be the inhabitants of the cities who pay for the “sports spectacle”. The cities that have invested in the tournament are already on the verge of bankruptcy. The debt related to the Euro2012 accumulates up to billions of Euro. The estimated sums spent on the tournament is about 25 billion Euro. The money spent on the stadium in Poznan – 190 million Euro – could, for instance, cover the costs of about 6,000 missing spots in public day nurseries.
The preparations for the Euro2012 demand extraordinary expenditures, which will not be reimbursed by foreign tourists or investors. Economists from major Polish economic schools have calculated that the organization of the Euro2012 will contribute 7 billion Euro to Poland’s GNP until 2020. That is only one third of the overall costs of the whole project – what about the other billions?
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The institution that will earn the most on Euro 2012 is UEFA that thanks to a contract signed with the Polish government will not have to pay any taxes, including VAT and CIT, as well as local taxes and customs!