Eurovision festivities are underway

The Swiss candidate Veronica Fusaro.Keystone

As the competition kicks off next Sunday, the city of Vienna has pulled out all the stops to welcome fans from around the world.

Festivities surrounding the Eurovision Song Contest leading up to the final on May 16 begin on Sunday in Vienna with thousands of fans from around the world, despite a call for a boycott due to Israel’s presence.

The Austrian capital is pulling out all the stops to host the 70th edition of the most popular TV show on the planet: it has planned a multitude of off-site events for tourists and locals.

In the afternoon, she rolls out the carpet – which at Eurovision is not red but turquoise – to welcome a parade of 35 delegations from the participating countries, as part of a colorful opening ceremony scheduled from 2:00 p.m.).

On the program: the best (and worst) of the previous seven decades on a giant screen facing the neogothic town hall, on a square transformed into a secure area, reserved for fans.

Today, the competition reaches more than 170 million people on television and online worldwide, and its content generates billions of views across digital platforms.

Finland, big favorite this year according to online bettors, hopes to win with a duo marrying a dark singer, Pete Parkkonen, to a luminous violinist, Linda Lampenius.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has made an exception and the musician will be able to perform live, according to the press in the Nordic country. Instruments are usually pre-recorded.

Greece, Denmark, France and Australia are also well placed, with star Delta Goodrem having benefited from public funding from Canberra to support cultural diplomacy.

Israeli candidate Noam Bettan could also do well with a title partially interpreted in the language of Molière.

Because of Israel’s participation, broadcasters from Spain, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Slovenia announced their defection.

They accuse Israel of conducting the devastating war waged in Gaza in retaliation for the attack on October 7, 2023 by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on its soil.

More than a thousand artists or groups also called for a boycott, including Peter Gabriel and Massive Attack, and in France, the CGT Entertainment Federation relayed their open letter. Pro-Palestinian, but also pro-Israeli, demonstrations are planned in Vienna.

The German Minister of Culture, Wolfram Weimer, who announced his arrival, declared to the media Augsburger Allgemeine that the call for a boycott had made him “suffer”.

“I committed myself very early on so that Israel could sing and I took this cause to the highest political level. I am happy that Israel can now sing and so I am leaving for Vienna, where I am looking forward to the event,” he said.

In order to prevent any slippage, the event is placed under very high security and several hundred police officers will be mobilized every day until the final on Saturday.

Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, which pay the largest financial contribution, are guaranteed to be included.

Austria will also be on stage, because the local artist, JJ, won the previous edition. But this year, its candidate, Cosmo, is relegated by the forecasts to the bottom of the ranking. (ats/afp)