If Germany wins its Euro 2012 semifinal match against Italy on Thursday, Angela Merkel will be put in a tricky situation. If the German chancellor, a huge soccer fan, attends the final game in co-host country Ukraine, she could risk looking soft following human rights abuses in the country against Yulia Tymoshenko.
Angela Merkel rarely lets football get in the way of politics. For last
Friday’s quarterfinal match against Greece, the German chancellor flew
straight from Rome, where she held four-way euro crisis talks with
European leaders, to Gdansk in co-host country Poland to cheer on her
country’s team.
