In Sweden, there is now an emotional discussion about the public votes cast by Finns, and Finnish discussion forums declare Käärijä the “real winner”.
The Eurovision final, which has become a national match between Finland and Sweden, has raised the blood pressure of many people on both sides of the Baltic Sea.
A Swedish afternoon newspaper Expressen’s in the story, Finland was called “the kingdom [Ruotsin] to the former eastern part” on the Monday after Visas.
– Television viewers in the former eastern part of the country gave Sweden zero (!) points in the Eurovision final on Saturday, Expressen and news agency TT write in the story.
It is not clear from the story whether the expression came from the pen of Expressen or the news agency.
The term can be interpreted as questionable due to the context, although it is historically accurate. In Eurovision, it often seems to happen that neighboring countries give points to each other. This year too, Finland gave Sweden 12 points from council votes, and Sweden gave the same to Finland.
The Swedes won Eurovision, but based on the discussion in the Swedish media, zero public votes from Finland was an insult.
At Helsinki-Vantaa airport, Käärija was awaited by a crowd of fans who, among other things, shouted: “Winner! Winner! Winner!”. Jussi Eskola