Euro 2024 and eastern German training camp a strong democracy signal
German politicians and football officials said on Monday that the national team's training camp in eastern Germany and the Euro 2024 home tournament are a strong signal for democracy and unity within society.
The German team is training in Blankenhain in Thuringia this week in preparations for the June 14-July 14 Euros in 10 German cities.
"A new spirit of optimism is always needed. A European Championship can create a sense of identification," Thuringia's Economics Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee told reporters.
German Football Federation (DFB) president Wolfgang Neuendorf said that "football has an integrative power" but expressed doubt that "you can solve all problems with football."
Neuendorf referred to growing racism and anti-Semitism in the country but Tiefensee insisted that Sunday's local election in his state showed that " vast majority are democrats."
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party registered gains on district and city councils, but no major breakthroughs.
The Blankenhain camp is the first of a national team in former East Germany, and Neuendorf recalled that the last Euros in 1988 were held before the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification in 1990, with no games in Berlin or Leipzig which are now host cities.
Neuendorf named the choice of the camp a signal towards the people in the five new German states.
Tiefensee added that his state would profit in the long run from the German training camp followed by England moving into the same spa and golf resort in Blankenhain as their Euro base camp.
He named the €1.5 million spent on upgrades well invested funds and said that no marketing campaign could have matched the presence of the two teams.
