The opening game of the European Football Championship will take place on June 14th in Munich. But unofficially it began last weekend: with the demonstrations of over a million people against right-wing extremism. At least that was how one could understand the press conference at which the cultural program for the European Championship was presented on Wednesday afternoon at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. Philipp Lahm, the “tournament director” of the European Championship, mentioned the demos in the first sentence, as an example of the spirit that is hoped for from the European Championship. Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth conjured up the image of a “diverse, colorful, democratic society” that the EM should spread. And the European Championships should also have an internal impact: “The values of sport – fair play, respect, tolerance – should not remain in the stadium, but should be transferred to the entire country,” says Juliane Seifert from the Interior Ministry.
Philipp Lahm and Claudia Roth present the cultural program for EM culture
