The European Broadcasting Union and the BBC have agreed that the international song contest Eurovision 2023 will be held in the UK on behalf of the Ukrainian TV and radio company Suspilne. “Following the decision that, unfortunately, next year’s event would not be possible in Ukraine for security reasons, the EBU considered a number of options with the winner. As a result of discussions, the EBU invited the British public broadcaster BBC, from which the participant took second place in the 2022 contest, to act as the organizer of the 67th Eurovision Song Contest,” the Suspіlny press service said.
It is noted that representatives of Suspіlny will cooperate with the BBC to develop and introduce Ukrainian elements in the show next year, and Ukraine, as the winning country of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, will also automatically enter the final of the future contest.
According to the report, the host city of the contest in 2023 will be selected in the coming months as a result of the competitive procedure, which will begin this week, and the dates of the Eurovision-202 will be announced in due course.
In turn, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote on the Twitter microblog that in a conversation with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, he agreed that wherever Eurovision 2023 takes place, it should glorify the country and people of Ukraine.
“Since we are now the host, the UK will honor this promise directly and put on a fantastic contest on behalf of our Ukrainian friends,” he wrote.
As reported, on June 14, the official kick-off meeting of the Eurovision organizers from Ukraine with the Supervisory Board, partners of the International Song Contest and the EBU core team took place, discussed issues of guarantees and preparation activities, a security questionnaire, potential locations for the contest. At the same time, on June 17, the EBU refused Ukraine to host Eurovision in 2023 after analyzing the security situation in the country. He also announced that he would start negotiations with the BBC about the possible holding of the competition in the UK.
After that, the Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko said that Ukraine did not agree with the nature of the decision on the impossibility of holding the Eurovision 2023 international song contest in the country, and demanded to change it.
In turn, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed the hope that Ukraine will be able to host the Eurovision Song Contest next year 2023.
Later, Poland also stated that it did not agree with the decision of the European Broadcasting Union to deprive Ukraine of the right to host Eurovision 2023.
