Mateusz Morawiecki was speaking at a news conference focusing on the major continental sporting event scheduled for next year, the state PAP news agency reported.
“Here in Kraków, in Poland's Małopolskie province, sports venues will be built and modernised to allow us to stage an event of the highest world class,” Morawiecki told reporters on Tuesday.
He was speaking as central government officials signed a letter of intent with city and provincial authorities to host the 2023 European Games.
The document contains arrangements for funding the event, which is set to cost PLN 400 million (EUR 87 million), the PAP news agency reported.
At the news conference, which was held at the Kolna whitewater kayaking venue near Kraków, Morawiecki thanked officials who had worked together to make the European Games a reality.
Among them were Deputy Prime Ministers Jacek Sasin and Piotr Gliński, Sports Minister Kamil Bortniczuk, Kraków Mayor Jacek Majchrowski, and the head of the provincial government, Witold Kozłowski.
“We have the best footballer in the world, the greatest fans in the world, so why shouldn’t we organise a wonderful European Games for everyone to look back on with great pride and satisfaction,” Morawiecki said.
“The European Games will be one of the world’s most important sporting events of 2023,” he told the media.
Host of infrastructure projects
The Polish prime minister declared that, in preparation for the European Games, sports facilities and road infrastructure would be built and modernised in Kraków, the surrounding Małopolskie province and the neighbouring Śląskie region.
These government-funded projects are set to include an overhaul of the Wisła Kraków stadium, which will host the Games’ opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the construction of a new indoor arena in the city of Chorzów, PAP reported.
“In ancient times, when the Games started, all disputes would stop - may sport be the domain of social life where we are able to find agreement,” Morawiecki said.
The first European Games were held in 2015 in Baku, Azerbaijan, with the 2019 edition organised in Minsk, Belarus.
The 2023 Games will centre around Kraków, with some of the competitions taking place elsewhere in Poland's southern Małopolskie region and in the neighbouring Śląskie province, the PAP news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP