FОТО: PIXABAY.COM.

The Swiss city is expected to finance next year's song contest, despite skepticism from conservatives. The Alpine country will host the event after Swiss artist Nemo won Eurovision this year with "The Code."

Voters in the northwestern Swiss city of Basel backed nearly $40 million (€38 million) in public funding on Sunday to host the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest. Preliminary results from Sunday's referendum show that 66.4% of voters in the city supported using taxpayer money for the event. 

Eurovision funding ensures full spectacle 

With the funding approved, the annual TV spectacle will proceed with its full traditional flair. Had the money not been granted, Eurovision 2025 would have been scaled back to only the main show, without any public events beyond the main show. The money will be put into programs accompanying the main event, and finance accommodation and expanded public transportation for attendees, among other initiatives. Eurovision is an opportunity for Basel, the home of pharma giants Novartis and Roche, to showcase its cultural attractions such as art museums. Based on the last two contests in Liverpool and Malmo, Basel hopes to make about 60 million Swiss francs (€64 million, $67 million) from the event.

What is happening on the planet and in each particular city

right now and any future day, you can find out here:

https://ixyt.info/en/USA/East-New-York

Paste the desired city into this link!

Swiss conservatives against funding say ESC promotes propaganda

If the money were rejected, the Eurovision side-events in Basel would have been axed. Public funding for Eurovision 2025 was put to a referendum after the national-conservative Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU) had gathered enough signatures. The minor political party, which promotes Biblical values, has criticized taxpayer money for an event which it sees as promoting antisemitism and occultism. Some voters expressed concerns about traffic disruptions and the financial burden on taxpayers in general. Switzerland will host next year's Eurovision after Swiss singer-rapper Nemo won the 2024 event with the song "The Code."  Nemo was the first non-binary artist in history to win the award. 

wd/lo (AFP, dpa) 

Permalink - https://p.dw.com/p/4nNGI

***

***

Eurovision Song Contest: Politics getting in the way of pop?

Though Eurovision has always insisted it's a purely cultural event, it has witnessed its share of politically charged moments over time.

It's a question that has arisen time and again: Is the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) political? The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the competition, has repeatedly insisted that the ESC is only a cultural event with no place for politics. Its rules clearly state that political statements or even slogans aren't allowed at the competition. This rule might be especially difficult to enforce this year. 

Eurovision was hardly ever apolitical 

The first ESC competition took place in Lugano, Switzerland in 1956. At the time, it was still called the "Gran Premio Eurovisione Della Canzone Europea" or "Grand Prix" for short in French. The aim of the event was international understanding, bringing World War II enemy countries together in a friendly competition. Seven countries took part, including Germany. The competition grew from year to year, with 17 countries taking part in 1968. 

That year, there was clear, politically motivated dissent: the Spanish candidate wanted to sing in Catalan, a language repressed by Francisco Franco's fascist regime. Another singer was sent instead to perform a Spanish-English version of the song, titled "La La La." After the division of Cyprus in 1974, Greece and Turkey became enemies. In 1975, Greece boycotted the ESC. Turkey followed suit in 1976 but nevertheless broadcast the show on television. The show was interrupted when the Greek entry came on, and a nationalist Turkish song was broadcast instead.

Is it still about the music?

The fact that even the EBU hasn't always managed to stay apolitical was demonstrated by the exclusion of Georgia in 2009. The reason: an anti-Russian play on words in the title of the song "We Don't Wanna Put In." Belarus was kicked out in 2021 because of its obvious support for President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been the subject of sanctions for human rights violations. Russia's exclusion from the ESC in 2022 was a reaction to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Regardless of their political stance, Russian artists and their music suddenly no longer played a role.

Political allies among national juries

From the very beginning, national juries have often made no secret of which participating country they were chummy with or which they openly disliked — even though this had nothing to do with the song's quality. It certainly wasn't about music when the Russian national jury responded to drag queen Conchita Wurst's performance with zero points in 2014. However, the Russian audience voted the Austrian entry into third place and Conchita went on to win the ESC by a landslide.

A woman dressed in a dark suit holds a mike onstage with the Ukrainian flag draped over her left arm. A woman dressed in a dark suit holds a mike onstage with the Ukrainian flag draped over her left arm.

In 2016, Russia objected to the performance of "1944" by Ukrainian participant Jamala, a song evocative of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars under Josef Stalin. The EBU argued back then that the song wasn't about politics but family history. Jamala, herself a Crimean Tatar, took home the ESC trophy.

Author  Silke Wünsch 

Permalink - https://p.dw.com/p/4fQjU