Monday, December 30, 2013
The crowd of angry citizen demanded their basic European right to be represented in the single biggest and most European event in the world. "If our politicians have the right to sit in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament, then we artists have right to take part in our version of kitschy sessions", said one of dozens of 'winners' of the Eurovision Song Contest. Several concerts in support of protestors were held with the main message being that the Eurovision Song contest is about feeling European and belonging to Europe.
On Monday morning an EU diplomatic delegation visited Zagreb, Sarajevo and Belgrade to negotiate a reasonable way out. A tweet posted by one Austrian diplomat shows how serious and emotional the situation is: “Is this 1914 or 2014? This is a clear & painful bullet of #BiH, #Croatia & #Serbia directed towards #EuropeanValues”. If citizens protests don’t bring expected reaction on the part of public broadcasters the Danish prime minister will cancel all scheduled selfies and join rightfully angry protestors. One source from within the Danish foreign ministry told More Europe that the prime minister will give a heartwarming speech to protesters and send a clear message to governments concerned that taking part in the Eurovision Song contest on a regular basis is part of the so-called Copenhagen EU membership criteria. Members of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee are expected to meet in camera and exert extra pressure on countries concerned.
In the UK this decision provoked only a reaction of the member of the UKIP who said to media late on Monday that the Eurovision Song Contest without the three Balkan countries is not worth British taxpayers' money. The Greek Ambassador to the EU said for European Voice that this decision might make FYROM skip this competition because they will have no neighbours to give them points.
Prime ministers of the three Balkan countries will meet later this week to discuss possible steps. As a source from inside the Serbian government told More Europe one should not expect much. Prime ministers will adopt common conclusions giving support for decisions of public broadcasters, and remind everyone that independent and depoliticised public broadcasters are part of European standards. Furthermore they will call on Lady Ashton to use her mediatory skills and once again save a day and win a Nobel peace prize.
The academic community is divided on the impact that decision of the three countries will have on nature of the competition. While one part of the community is worried about the impact it will have on credibility of the project as a European one, the other part is rightfully asking if this means that Eurovision song contest is definitely passé.
