Greece: ERT’s shock confession for predetermined jury vote

A bombshell news that will disturb the already disturbed relations between RIK and ERT, was published a short while ago by the newspaper Ta Nea.

The Ambassador of Cyprus lights fires

The news, which is also on the cover of the newspaper, concerns an official document – an information letter from Stavros Avgoustidis, Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus in Athens, to official bodies of Cyprus, in which he informs the authorities in Nicosia, about what was communicated to him in a recent working meeting at the ERT’s Headquarters, by the President of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), Konstantinos Zoulas, concerning the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest and the jury votes that the Greek jury committee will give to Cyprus.

According to what is revealed in the newspaper, the President of ERT announced on February 22nd to the Cypriot Ambassador in Athens that Greece will give a low score to the Cypriot participation in Eurovision 2024. In more detail, the article states the following:

Official confession for… Eurovision!

Just when you think you have seen it all, the official document signed by the Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus in Greece, Stavros Avgoustidis, for his meeting with the President of ERT, Konstantinos Zoulas, comes to leave you… in shock.

This is, in particular, the ambassador’s official briefing to the Presidential Palace of Cyprus, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior, the government spokesman and other official bodies, for his visit on February 21 to ERT’s premises. During their meeting, according to the ambassador, Zoulas referred to the burning issue of… Eurovision, stressing that “as far as Cyprus’ participation in this year’s Eurovision contest is concerned, ERT will not give high marks to the Cypriot entry”.

In other words, he clearly announced the result of the Greek jury, which in February had not even been set up, for a vote that would take place three months later.

The issue is not exactly trivial. This is because, according to the regulations of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) governing the regulation, ERT does not vote, as Zoulas told the Cypriot ambassador, but must set up an independent jury, which is expressly forbidden to be composed of employees of state television, in order to evaluate the entries on artistic criteria alone, without being influenced by external factors.

So one wonders how exactly Zoulas knew the result of such an evaluation by then. Unless he has a talent for futurology, say, or a magic crystal ball…

Awaiting developments in Athens, Nicosia and EBU

Obviously, what the Cypriot ambassador in Athens reports to the government services in Nicosia is very serious and raises relentless questions regarding the credibility of the Greek jury, whose members have already been notified to the EBU, since the deadline was Friday 12 April.

Of course all of the above comes a few months after the uproar and reactions caused by the 4 points given by last year’s Greek jury that deprived Andrew Lambrou and Cyprus of the top 10.

Eurovisionfun will be following the issue and will keep you informed as always for any news on this very serious issue that has arisen and which will obviously monopolize the interest in Greece and Cyprus in the coming days.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all developments!