Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Sportif!: Expert Believes Freddles Will Ruin Denmark's Reputation by Going to Ukraine: Hello, Reputation Sunk on May 14, 2004



Derfie want to go to see big boys pway games. Lene says it ok. Lars is big baby dumdum. Nice bwonde wadies in Ukwaine. Vewy nice.

Article: BT

When the Danish national team will run the track in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv next Saturday, they will be supported by Culture Minister Uffe Elbaek and Crown Prince Frederik. For when the Minister of Culture announced his participation in the European Championships in Ukraine in order to support the Danish national team, adding Crown Prince Frederik to the occasion also came up.

But the decision will not be received with open arms everywhere. Lars Hovbakke, who is a historian and expert in the royal house and external lecturer at Copenhagen University, blames the Government for sending the Minister for Culture and the Crown Prince to the Ukraine because their government has been criticized for violating human rights and not having a democratic playing field.

"It's not something that is beneficial to Denmark in relation to how other democratic countries view us. When many of the other countries of the EU and NATO, which we normally compare ourselves with, because they are democracies in the same way as we is choosing to boycott, and we participate, I would definitely say that it is not is something that gives us plusses in our grade book. On the contrary, it pulls us down into how other democracies look at us", said Lars Hovbakke.

Ukraine is also criticized for abuse of power and to its legal system is riddled with corruption. But it is especially the host country's treatment of former Prime Minister Julia Tymoshenko, who is imprisoned for abuse of power, which has attracted international criticism. According to her own hinterland should she indeed be mistreated in prison by the staff. Ukraine's dubious reputation has given Germany's Angela Merkel, France's new president François Hollande and Swedish Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeldt reason to refrain from traveling to Ukraine to support their national team during the Euro. And recently, The Netherlands declared that nobody from the government or the Dutch royal family will be present during the final tournament.

But it's not just the government in general and Culture Minister Uffe Elbaek in particular that are detrimental to Denmark's reputation. Crown Prince Frederik namely will give inadvertent harm to his country. He is very interested in sports, and as future king it is logical for the government to recommend him. "It is common practice for the Royal Family to follow the government line in connection with participation in such events", the court's communications manager Lene Balleby previously said to Berlingske News Agency.

According to Lars Hovbakke, the Crown Prince scratches at his royal varnish, if he insists on backing the Danish soccer heroes during the competition. "When he takes part, it reflects the fact that the Danish Government has decided that he should do it. But this is Denmark's reputation in the democratic world's eyes. It will definitely hurt", says Lars Hovbakke. "You can greatly question whether Ukraine is actually a democracy. The country is not such in the Western sense. Therefore, it would have looked good if the Western democracies had stood together to boycott to highlight a common position", said Lars Hovbakke.

Photo: Keld Navntoft

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