Subsidies help build roads and stadiums for Euro 2012

"We might use part of the reserves for covering roughly half of costs related to the construction of stadiums," said Jerzy Kwiecinski, deputy minister of regional development. Until recently the EU strongly opposed subsidizing sport infrastructure, but hope was sparked by the words of EU commissioner for regional policy Danuta Huebner who said she believed that Poland could apply for the aid. Other EU programs will finance transport investments over 2007-2013 and thus indirectly the EU will spend EUR 19 billion on the construction of roads in Poland. "One should bear in mind, however, that without the football championship we would still be carrying out the investments. Due to Euro some projects will be carried out faster," said Kwiecinski. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, B1) M.M.