All EU Commissioners to skip Ukraine's Euro

(KIEV) - All EU commissioners will skip next month's Euro 2012 football events in Ukraine to protest the country's treatment of its jailed ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko, the EU's Kiev mission said Thursday.

"As we know, (European Commission) President (Jose Manuel) Barroso has no intention of travelling to Ukraine or visiting any of the Euro 2012 events," the mission said on its Facebook account.

"This position is shared by all the European Commissioners. (President Barroso raised this issue during a meeting of European Commission members on May 2.)"

Barroso's office said Monday that the chief of the European Union's head office had "no intention" of travelling to Ukraine when it begins co-hosting the once-in-four-year tournament with Poland on June 8.

His office never explicitly tied the decision to the prosecution of Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution leader and former pro-Western prime minister.

Tymoshenko has launched a hunger strike to protest her alleged beating in jail, where she is serving a seven-year sentence that EU officials view as part of the current government's vendetta against her old cabinet team.

The EU statement on Facebook said Barroso turned down the invitation to attend events in Ukraine "due to his busy schedule."

But it also called on Ukrainian authorities to commit themselves more closely to "democratic values and the rule of law."