Sunday

24th Sep 2023

Ice Hockey finals in Belarus still on schedule

  • Belarus is hosting the 2014 World Ice Hockey Championship (Photo: Patxi64)

The large, red 2014 World Ice Hockey Championship billboards and posters adorning walls in the Belarus capital are unlikely to come down anytime soon.

Despite international pressure to pull the venue from Minsk, a spokesperson for the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation told this website on Thursday (22 March) that he does not know of any European national ice hockey federation that wants the event moved.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

In Finland, the response to the EUobserver query was concise. "We have absolutely no comment to make on this issue," said their national ice hockey federation spokesperson.

In Lithuania, the president of their national hockey federation, said there is no point in mixing politics with sports.

"I know the Belarus ice hockey federation and I know how much they have organised this event at the highest level. Politics should not be a factor," he said, adding that the sentiment is shared by federations in neighbouring countries.

But in Belarus, politics is never too far from removed from sports.

President Alexander Lukashenko is an avid ice hockey player and fan who, when not throwing his political opponents in jail, is also the head of the country’s national Olympic committee.

He has built 25 so-called ice palaces throughout the country with another 27 planned. Each ice-palace costs around €22.7 million, according to Fedynitch Gennadi, chairman of a Minsk-based trade union.

A call by the European Parliament in March to pressure the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to move the venue appear to largely have been ignored by the federations. The US passed a similar bill in January.

Both are demanding that Belarus release all its political prisoners for the event to continue in Minsk.

The IIHF, which organizes the championships, said it is possible the issue will be raised at the upcoming ice hockey congress in Finland this May. Delegates from the 70 national ice hockey federations would then put it to a vote.

But in a sign of decisions to come, the IIHF spokesperson noted that a statute in their laws does not allow them "to discriminate on religious, racial or political grounds." The vast majority of the federations already voted in favour of Belarus two years ago, when the country was officially selected.

Slovak centre-right MEP Peter Stastny, a former ice hockey star, said that European national ice hockey federations are largely funded by taxpayers.

Stastny wants the championship moved from Belarus, stating that MEPs overwhelmingly voted in favour of the European Parliament resolution on 20 January 2011 condemning Belarus for trampling democratic principles and human rights.

"Ice hockey championships is like the Olympics, it's a matter of prestige and I don’t personally want ice hockey to be associated with the dictator in Belarus," said Stastny.

Stastny believes the US law passed in January essentially determines how the US delegation will vote if the issue is raised in May. However, the US Hockey Federation declined to comment, telling this website that they "are aware of the situation."

Meanwhile, Lukashenko on Wednesday (21 March) called the European Parliament’s proposal "a political move, nothing else."

In Minsk, massive construction efforts are currently underway to improve inner-city infrastructure. A new underground metro line is being purposely built to carry fans to and from anyone of the two selected venues.

The largest of the two venues is the Minsk Arena, a glass and steel building that can seat some 15,000 people.

Lukashenko has been known to awaken members of the Belarus national ice hockey team in the middle of the night to play the game. But the nocturnal forays are not restricted to Minsk.

Near Brest on the Polish border, one ice-hockey rink has become the infamous venue for midnight matches where police and the business elite can knock about a puck while discussing the orders of the day, says Gennadi.

"Rich people from Minsk go to play hockey there in the night and locals call it the NHL, for Night Hockey League," he says.

EU’s €500m gender violence plan falls short, say auditors

The 'Spotlight Initiative' was launched in 2017 with a budget of €500 million to end all forms of violence or harmful practices against women and girls in partner countries, but so far it has had "little impact", say EU auditors.

Latest News

  1. Europe's energy strategy: A tale of competing priorities
  2. Why Greek state workers are protesting new labour law
  3. Gloves off, as Polish ruling party fights for power
  4. Here's the headline of every op-ed imploring something to stop
  5. Report: Tax richest 0.5%, raise €213bn for EU coffers
  6. EU aid for Africa risks violating spending rules, Oxfam says
  7. Activists push €40bn fossil subsidies into Dutch-election spotlight
  8. Europe must Trump-proof its Ukraine arms supplies

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  2. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  4. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us