Minister of Culture Wolfram Weimer (independent) criticizes the boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) announced by several countries in the event of a participation in Israel. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) founded the ESC with the idea of combining nations through music, Weimer explained in Berlin on Saturday. “Anyone who excludes Israel today turns this basic idea upside down and turns a feast of understanding a tribunal.”
Several countries, including Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia, threaten boycott, should Israel compete at the ESC 2026. Others such as Finland, Sweden and Belgium keep their decision open until December. Then a decision by the EBU about the participation of Israel is expected.
The ESC lives from the fact that artists are not judged according to their art according to their art, according to Weimer. “Cancel Culture is not an answer – the answer should be called diversity and cohesion.”
Precisely because the ESC was “born from the ruins of the war”, he should “not deteriorate to a stage of the exclusion”. If Europe weakens the ESC, others win the field, Weimer explained. Russia, for example, attempts to build up its own counter-world with a new edition of the old Eastern Bloc competition “Intervision”. Because of the Russian attack on Ukraine, EBU in 2022 decided to exclude Russia from the ESC.
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