The European Broadcasting Union have issued a supplementary statement, this afternoon, to reaffirm that Ukraine will not host the Eurovision Song Contest next year, under any circumstances.
The statement has likely been issued in response to several members of the British government, led by Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, calling for the EBU to reconsider their earlier decision, and allow Ukraine to host the event.
Boris Johnson spoke, last week, declaring that: “The Ukrainians won it fair and square, even though we had a brilliant entry, and they should be given the chance to host it. It’s a year away. It’s going to be fine by the time the Eurovision Song Contest comes around and I hope they get it.” This caused uproar amongst the UK press, and Eurovision fans, who know that hosting the Eurovision Song Contest isn’t as simple as the Prime Minister makes out.
This all came to ahead, yesterday, when Nadine Dorries, the much scrutinised Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, tweeted out about the possibility of the UK hosting, echoing the Prime Minister’s previous comments. It’s worth noting that as long as Boris Johnson remains in office, by next May, Nadine Dorries will be the government minister overseeing the Contest if hosted in the UK.
This caused a huge uproar on Twitter, amongst Eurovision fans, and interested members of the press, which has only grown over the last 24 hours. It seems that the EBU’s statement, reaffirming that Ukraine are 100% ruled out from hosting, is, at least partly, a response to Dorries’ twitter thread.
This afternoon at 14:30 BST, the EBU’s statement was released.
The EBU fully understands the disappointment that greeted the announcement that the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) cannot be staged in Ukraine, this year’s winning country.
The decision was guided by the EBU’s responsibility to ensure the conditions are met to guarantee the safety and security of everyone working and participating in the event, the planning of which needs to begin immediately in the host country.
At least 10,000 people are usually accredited to work on, or at, the Eurovision Song Contest including crew, staff and journalists. A further 30,000 fans are expected to travel to the event from across the world. Their welfare is our prime concern.
It is therefore critical that decisions made in relation to such a complex live television event are made by broadcasting professionals and do not become politicized.
The Rules of the Eurovision Song Contest, that all participating broadcasters agree upon, clearly state that the event can be moved in a force majeure situation such as an ongoing war.
In response to the EBU’s security questionnaire a number of risks that would impact the immediate planning for such a large event, including the “severe” risk of air raids/attacks by aircraft or attacks by drones or missiles, which can cause significant casualties, were highlighted by the Ukrainian assessment provided to us.
Additionally, the EBU sought third-party expert security advice which clearly stated that the counter measures proposed to mitigate the threats planning the event in Ukraine were insufficient for an international public event and the risk rating of a mass casualty event due to the ongoing conflict is “high”.
Alongside the security concerns, the continued conflict in Ukraine makes delegations and participants reluctant to travel to the country. We also noted the comments made by the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, that the war in Ukraine “could take years.”
With regards to the possibility of hosting the Contest in a border location close to a neighbouring country, the specifications of suggested venues, and the lack of the necessary surrounding infrastructure, do not meet the requirements of the ESC.
When drawing its conclusions, the EBU also took note that, based on our current information, no major international concert tours are visiting Ukraine throughout 2023.
All this contributes to the EBU’s overall assessment that in terms of security and operational guarantees, the necessary requirements for hosting, as set out in the Rules of the Eurovision Song Contest are not met.
Taking all of this into account the EBU, with regret, made its decision to move the event to another country and will continue discussions on finding a suitable location for next year’s Eurovision Song Contest. We are happy to engage further with our Ukrainian Member UA:PBC on all these issues.
EBU Statement on Hosting of the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest
Now that the EBU’s full reasoning for moving the Eurovision Song Contest to the United Kingdom has been released, it is likely that Johnson, Dorries and the rest of the British government will back down and allow the BBC to begin making preparations to stage the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.
News of the BBC accepting the EBU’s invite to host is expected within the next few days.
As much of a circus as all these statements were, it was politically necessary to make them.
Now can we move on to choosing the host city?