The Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Oleksandr Tkachenko, has shown his rejection to decision of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to rule out the country as the venue to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 due to the situation of the war and start talks with the BBC to celebrate it in the United Kingdom.
In a statement, the government headed by Volodimir Zelenski has expressed that “it does not agree with the nature of such a decision” when “other options” have not been discussed and has called for “continuing negotiations and finding a joint solution that satisfies to all parties.”
kyiv has recalled that they won the last edition of the festival with the Kalush Orchestra and, so far, “they have met all the conditions within the time specified for the approval process for their celebration in Ukraine”, in addition to giving “answers and guarantees about the safety standards” or assess the possible venues to host the musical contest.
“We believe that we will be able to fulfill all the commitments we have made,” the government insisted in the statement, which has demanded “additional negotiations” for the celebration of Eurovision 2023 in Ukraine.
Security conditions
The European Broadcasting Union (UER) –(EBU, for its acronym in English)– has ruled out that Ukraine, winner of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, will host the next edition of the European contest and has started talks with the British BBC to that the United Kingdom be the country that hosts the contest in 2023, given its status as runner-up.
Related news
Following an objective analysis by the Reference Group, the Eurovision board of directors has concluded “with deep regret” that, given the current circumstances, “the required operational and security guarantees” for a broadcaster to host, organize and produce the Eurovision Song Contest under the Rules of the contest “cannot be fulfilled by UA:PBC”, the Ukrainian public broadcaster UA:PBC, which already hosted the contest in 2017 and 2005.
The UER has thanked UA:PBC for its “sincere cooperation and commitment in exploring all scenarios” in the weeks following Kalush Orchestra’s victory on May 14 in Turin and has shared “its sadness and disappointment” that the next year’s contest cannot be held in Ukraine.