EURO 2012

Ukraine will be in the international spotlight when it hosts this major football tournament, and the first impression thousands of European travellers receive of the country will be at the border. By way of support, EUBAM is providing support to its partners in Ukraine through the following activities:

• In 2009, EUBAM organised an international Euro 2012 conference together with the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (UASBGS). Representatives of border police from Poland, Austria, Germany and Switzerland attended the conference, at which an English-language phrase book developed by the UASBGS and EUBAM was handed over to the UASBGS.
• A second English-language phrase book, developed by EUBAM and the State Customs Service of Ukraine (UASCS), has also been handed over to the UASCS. A Euro 2012 guide book will also be developed by EUBAM and its Ukrainian partners.
• Since 2008 EUBAM has been conducting a ‘social and cultural competences’ training project for border guard officers from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Odessa and Lviv, in cooperation with the German Federal Police. This has already included three study visits to Frankfurt, Germany, and training sessions in Odessa.
• EUBAM is carrying out several ‘train-the-trainers’ English language events, where English language ‘multipliers’ from among the staff of Ukrainian border guard, customs and law-enforcement agencies are instructed on how best to teach relevant English-language terminology to their staff.
• Other ‘train-the-trainers’ events to be organised by EUBAM between now and Euro 2012 include ‘Common Border, Common Language: On the Threshold of Euro 2012’, involving English-language communication skills for official meetings in areas such as ‘law enforcement and Euro 2012’, ‘corruption and organised crime’, ‘Schengen Borders Code’, ‘smuggling’, ‘crowd management and emergencies’, ‘profiling’ and ‘security of travel documents’.
• At a ‘Common Border, Common Language: On the Threshold of Euro 2012’ event in Khmelnitsky in May 2011, EUBAM handed over English language-learning equipment such as dictionaries, language books, and IT equipment to the ‘Self-Access Centre’ in the Ukrainian Customs Training Centre. EUBAM has helped to establish three other Self-Access Centres at the Orshanets Border Guard Training Centre, the Khmelnitskiy Border Guard Academy, and the Ungheni Border Guard College (Moldova), which have also been provided with educational material.
• EUBAM’s PR Unit is supporting Ukrainian press officers from the UASBGS, UASCS and Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior as they develop a public-information strategy ahead of next year’s tournament. During a study visit to Vienna and Berlin in April 2011, the Ukrainian press officers received guidance from Austrian and German PR experts who were involved in the development of public-information strategies for Euro 2008 and World Cup 2006.