According to the regulations of the organizer EBU, the Eurovision Song Contest must be a non-political competition. However, the fact that there is an ongoing war of aggression in Ukraine cannot be ignored.
– It will be difficult to keep the competition apolitical, says Judith Gugh, Great Britain’s ambassador to Sweden.
Saturday’s Eurovision final is not like an ordinary final. Because of the war in Ukraine, tonight’s competition is being held in Great Britain, even though Ukraine won in 2022. TV4’s reporter Filip Stiller Borowicz is on site in Liverpool. According to him, the BBC has done a good job of including Ukraine, through, among other things, Ukrainian artists and performances.
– Throughout the city, Ukraine permeates this event, he says.
Eurovision is supposed to be apolitical, but you don’t always succeed in that. This year, Croatia’s entry has a veiled anti-war message that sends passes to both Belarus’ dictator Lukashenko and Russia’s dictator Putin.
Even in previous years, political contributions have crept in. For example, when Ukraine won last year, they shouted political slogans on stage. Another example is Georgia’s song from 2009, “We Don’t Wanna Put in”.
Eurovision important for Ukraine
Judith Gugh is the UK’s ambassador to Sweden and has previously been ambassador to Ukraine. She believes that it is important to keep Eurovision apolitical, the idea with the competition from the beginning was to bring Europe closer through a televised music festival.
– But when there is a war in Europe, you understand that it is difficult to keep it apolitical. For example, Russia is not allowed to participate, she says.
Judith Guch became ambassador to Ukraine in 2015, and even then the war was going on. In 2017, Ukraine hosted Eurovision after the artist Jamala won the previous year. The ambassador believes that the win meant a lot for Ukraine,
– It was not easy for Ukraine to carry out such a large event during a period of war, but they did it and they did it well. It was a way for Ukraine to show that they are a European country that has European values, says Judith Guch.