Bosnia and Herzegovina: Court orders sale of BHRT real estate to repay debts to EBU

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A Sarajevo court orders Bosnia and Herzegovina Public Television (BHRT) to sell its real estate to pay off a debt to the EBU.

The divestment of BHRT’s large real estate is ordered by a court decision in Bosnia and Herzegovina. BHRT owes the EBU just over 8 million Euros. Because of this debt, the country’s public television has not had access to the EBU’s services since 2018 and, of course, cannot take part in the Eurovision song contest either.

BHRT owns nine properties, worth 82 million Euros. The sale of the property ordered by the court order is set for September 24. The decision has been appealed.

If BHRT repays its debt to the EBU, it opens the way for its return to the Eurovision Song Contest.

Bosnia and Herzegovina debuted in the contest in 1993 and since then has participated 19 times, with their last appearance being in 2016. Their best finish is third, at Eurovision 2006 in Athens, when they came third with Lejla .

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

Source: Eurovoix

Edward af Sillen: What does the Turkish plalyer’s suspension in EURO remind me…?

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Through a post in his personal account in X, Edward af Sillen, the scriptwriter for the previous three contests in Sweden (2013, 2016 & 2024), parallels the two cases of a contestant’s suspension, in Eurovision 2024 and in Euro, wanting to make clear, that non-compliance with the regulations, causes punishments.

Wanting to comment on the Turkish football player’s, Merih Demiral, suspension from the two following games, he made the following post:

In Türkiye’s last game against Austria in the phase of 16, Merih Demiral, celebrated their win by making the sign of the Gray Wolves, a far-right fascist organisation. The punishment from UEFA, was immediate. The Turkish player was suspended from the following two games, which means that he won’t lose the rest of the EURO 2024.

The case of Merih Demiral’s suspension is indirectly but clearly paralleled by Edward af Sillen with that of Joost Klein’s disqualification from the Eurovision 2024 final, after his violation of EBU regulations. We remind you that Joost Klein was excluded from the final of the Contest after the complaints, by a production worker, for violence against her.

The EBU stated in its recent statement on everything that happened during Eurovision 2024, that the simplification of the rules and everyone keeping up with the regulations (members of delegations, artists, fans) is of crucial importance for the smooth running of the contest in the future.

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, in Switzerland!

EXCLUSIVE: With a powerful song for Eurovision 2025, the Songwriting Camp in Elounda was completed!

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The first Eurovision Songwriting Camp ever held in Greece ended yesterday, Friday, July 5, in Elounda, Crete. According to our exclusive information, the composers who participated in the camp are delighted with the result, since they consider that they have a very strong song for Eurovision 2025 in their hands.

All week long, the four established musicians with great experience, as well as successes in the competition, worked intensively to prepare songs for Eurovision 2025. The creators of Nemo’s The Code, Lasse Midtsian Nymann and Linda Dale, the well-known Norwegian songwriter Elsie Bay, as well as Dream Team’s composer Dimitris Kontopoulos, joined forces with the result, as we are informed, fully justifying them.

All these camps usually involve many more songwriters, and aim to write many songs for various artists. The duration of these camps does not exceed three days and the time that each composer has to work with other musicians is very limited, since the composition of the working groups is rotated for practical reasons.

In the songwriting camp of Elounda, as you read above, four composers participated and their goal was to write one or more songs, for a single artist as we can now reveal to you, who seems to have already been selected in a country or has the intention to submit a song. The time they had was much longer than the usual songwriting camps that are held in Europe, while all five days they worked together, in order to reach the result they wanted.

They wrote a total of three songs, as we informed you in our previous article, but one of them qualified out of all four, as the most suitable for the upcoming song contest in Switzerland. In the next period, more details will be revealed, both about the song and about the artist who will be invited to perform it.

It is worth noting that the four composers were very pleased with their collaboration and renewed their appointment for further musical projects.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

Switzerland: An internal selection for Eurovision 2025 | Song submission will commence soon!

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Switzerland, the winning country of Eurovision 2024, officially starts its Eurovision 2025 journey.

Switzerland will use an internal selection process again in order to select its next Eurovision act. The submission window will open on the 8th of August and is expected to be closed two weeks later, on the 22nd of August.

The selection process

The Swiss entry will be selected by a Swiss audience jury along with a 25-member international Eurovision-expert jury. Along with a Swiss audience jury, an international audience will also have its say on the next Swiss act.

The final decision will be known to public in early 2025.

Nemo won last year’s Swiss internal selection and with their entry “The Code“, subsequently won the 68th Eurovision Song Contest and will now bring the contest back to its birthplace, Switzerland.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news!

Source: srf.ch

The core production team for Eurovision 2025 has been announced

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The core production team for the 69th Eurovision Song Contest in Switzerland in 2025 was announced a little earlier.

Swiss public broadcaster SSG SSR has announced several key players who will serve as the main production team behind next year’s competition. These include the positions of Head of Show, Head of Contest, Head of Production etc.

First, Reto Peritz and Moritz Stadler will be the Executive Producers for Eurovision 2025. Together, they will take overall responsibility for the production of the contest.

Under them, the head of show for Eurovision 2025 will be Yves Schifferle, who was the head of the delegation for Switzerland. His role will be to produce the result for the three telecasts – two semi-finals and the final – and functions such as the parade of flags, postcards and the voting series.

Schifferle’s new role means he will not be head of the Swiss delegation this year, with Daniel Meister taking over for 2025.

The usual suspect Christer Björkman, who has headed the contest six times in the past, will be doing his seventh Eurovision as Head of Contest in 2025. He will be in charge of both the performance line-up and the acts on the stage.

He will be joined by Tobias Åberg, who will be the Head of Production responsible for technical production, stage construction and IT infrastructure.

Bernhard Spahni joins the team as project manager. Nadja Burkhardt-Tracol will be the head of the event, making her the main contact with the city chosen to host the competition.

Manfred Winz (Head of Finance), Aurore Chatard (Head of Security), Kevin Stuber (Head of Legal), Thomas Pittino (Head of Marketing & Funding), Vassilis Donikian (Head of HR), Nicole Beutler (Head of Public Affairs), Henriette Engbersen (in her capacity as Head of the Public Value team at SRG) and Till Jendly (Assistant) round out the rest of the team.

The core team will now start working to make next May Eurovision 2025. Of course, it still remains unknown which of the four cities, Geneva, Zurich, Basel or Bern will host the contest. The decision will be announced in August.

Source: Eurovision.tv

Austria: Τhe search for Eurovision 2025 entry has started!

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The search for the next Austrian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 has begun.

Austria’s selection for Eurovision 2025 is underway with scouts looking for singers for the next contest. Peter Schreiber, who is working with ORF to find the next Austrian representative, has posted on instagram encouraging musicians to reach out, in order to represent the country in Switzerland.

Schreiber says that the selection is looking for musicians of all genres, with an extra focus on acts that are exciting, unusual, emotional, original and authentic.

To apply for the chance to represent Austria at the upcoming contest, the selection asks people to send information regarding themselves, as well as audio samples or reference songs, or a specific song that the artist would like to sing at Eurovision 2025. Interested musicians are asked to contact Peter Schreiber on Instagram, with the deadline for the selection on September 15.

Kaleen represented Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with “We Will Rave”. She finished in 24th place, with 24 points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ6SlZnk_EI

source: Instagram

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the news about Eurovision 2025!

 

Belgium: VRT invites Joost Klein for Eurovision 2025!

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The recent public call of Joost Klein to the Belgian public broadcaster seems to have found a response, since the Dutch-speaking public television of Belgium with a post on social media expresses its interest in the artist and the possible representation of the country by him in Eurovision 2025 .

A few days earlier at a concert in Belgium, Joost Klein, responding to a banner of his fans calling for him to return with the Netherlands to Eurovision 2025, replied:

Who told you that I want to represent this country! Belgium call me!

Studio Brussel (VRT) did not miss the opportunity and responded to Joost Klein. The Belgian broadcaster published a post on Instagram in which it wrote: “@joostklein check private messages please, thank you”, along with a video of Klein doing his reading. While she hinted that she is trying to get in touch with the Dutch singer.

 

Δείτε αυτή τη δημοσίευση στο Instagram.

 

Η δημοσίευση κοινοποιήθηκε από το χρήστη VRT Studio Brussel (@stubru)

It is obvious that Belgian public broadcaster is interested in seeing Joost Klein compete in Eurosong 2025 and why not represent the country in Switzerland. VRT will hold Eurosong 2025 to select the artist and song that will represent the country in the competition. There will be no open call for song submissions, but by invitation only to established artists.

Artists who receive an invitation will be asked to submit up to two original songs to VRT. The songs will be auditioned and a committee will decide which artists and which songs will compete in Eurosong 2025, to represent Belgium at Eurovision 2025.

Recall that the Dutch singer Joost Klein was disqualified a few hours before the final of Eurovision 2024 after a complaint filed against him by a Swedish photographer in the production of the contest. The complaint, which has gone to justice, was that Joost Klein used violence against her.

The Deputy Director General of the European Broadcasting Union, Jean Philip De Tender, referred to Joost Klein’s desire to compete in Eurovision 2025, saying that this is possible, as long as his participation would not violate the contest’s regulations:

If there is no violation of the rules, I see no reason why he cannot participate. at Eurovision 2025.

Unlike Belgium, which is already moving forward with the procedures to find its representative in the next contest, Joost Klein’s native Netherlands, has not yet made it clear whether it will take part in Eurovision 2025, pending actions from the EBU, to avoid situations that happened in Malmö.

Would you like to see Joost Klein represent Belgium at Eurovision 2025? Tell us in the comments below!

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

Source: Euromix

EXCLUSIVE: Three songs at the Eurovision Song Writing Camp in Greece!

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The Eurovision Song Writing Camp continues in Elounda, Crete. As they reveal to us on their social media, the participants are working intensively on possible songs for Eurovision 2025. According to our exclusive information, three songs are in the works.

As we revealed to you in our previous exclusive articles, the composers of Nemo’s The Code, Lasse Midtsian Nymann and Linda Dale, Elsie Bay, as well as Dimitris Kontopoulos, have joined forces, hoping to create one or more songs that will impress the audience and the juries at the next Eurovision Song Contest.

They have already started writing three songs, which they will complete in their first form until Friday, July 5, when the Eurovision Song Writing Camp will end.

Earlier, Elsie Bay uploaded a story on her social networks, in which she tagged all the musicians who are on the Elounda Peninsula and who are working on the songs.

As we informed you in our previous articles, this particular song writing camp is not about a specific country only, nor of course about an artist.

Eurovisionfun will continue to inform you about everything that is happening in Elounda. Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

EBU: The new updated rules do not change anything with the participation of Israel

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Jean Philip De Tender, Deputy Director General of the EBU, spoke on Swedish Public Radio about all the changes to the Eurovision Song Contest and the conclusion of the independent investigation carried out by the EBU after the end of this year’s Eurovision and everything that happened in Malmö. De Tender made it clear that nothing changes with Israel’s participation in 2025 as well.

Simplification of regulations

Speaking to Carolina Norén on Swedish radio station P4, Jean Philip De Tender explained several details following the independent expert investigation carried out after the 2024 competition.

He explained that Martin Österdahl will remain as executive supervisor, but some of his responsibilities will be transferred to the new Eurovision director.

De Tender also clarified that the EBU wants to simplify the rules on contracts so that everyone involved understands what they are signing up for. He cited the example that 70 years ago the regulations were all one page and now we are talking about hundreds of pages.

Israel will take part in Eurovision 2025

Regarding the controversy surrounding Israel’s participation in this year’s contest, De Tender said that as a member of the EBU, KAN, Israel’s public broadcaster, is eligible to participate. He stated that the Eurovision Song Contest is a non-political event and that the decision to allow Israel to participate is in line with other non-political organizations such as sports federations. However, he added that he believes the EBU needs to clarify its decision-making better:

“I think we need to maybe clarify the decision-making with all the stakeholders better so that people fully understand what the event stands for and what the goal is.”

The Netherlands and Joost Klein in Switzerland?

Regarding the fear of countries withdrawing from the next Eurovision, De Tender clarifies that no country has so far declared its withdrawal and that he believes that the Netherlands will also participate normally in Switzerland.

In the possibility of Joost Klein’s return to the competition, he simply states that this is a matter of the Dutch public broadcaster and since his participation is not contrary to any regulation, he does not see the reason why the artist could be excluded from Eurovision 2025.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

Source: sverigesradio

Norway: Participation in Eurovision 2025 is confirmed!

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Since the final of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, questions have been aroused as to whether Norway will participate in next year’s major music competition. Now NRK has finally concluded after talks with the EBU and the new report that was published yesterday.

Now the EBU has recognized that they had problems this year and they are working to improve it. And what we’ve been told, in addition to what they’ve come out with publicly, sounds very good. So now we will work constructively and positively to get Norway into Eurovision in 2025. We will participate

says music manager for Melodi Grand Prix, Stig Karlsen.

He emphasizes that they have not received an answer to everything the EBU should do next, but that NRK’s ​​plan is now ready.

The registration deadline for next year’s competition is set for mid-September. There are so far around 16 countries registered for next year’s competition. Both Sweden and Denmark have already confirmed participation.

-We hope that the EBU ensures that the ESC is not used as a political tool, because there was quite a bit of this this year. It is also important that they become better at communicating, crisis management and security around the event.

Against the background of this year’s controversies and protests during the Eurovision Song Contest, the EBU, the organizer of the contest, promised a thorough evaluation and review of the event.

Yesterday, the EBU published a report in which they consider further measures to improve the safety of the artists. At the same time, they announced that they are creating new leadership positions in the Eurovision Song Contest, and that they have been recommended to create a crisis team that can prevent and handle crises.

We must communicate well with the artist and provide an understanding of what we do and how we handle this. It is very important that the artist has a good experience throughout.

Of the countries that are registered for next year we also find Israel. There were several demonstrations both in Norway and several other countries in Europe when they were allowed to participate in this year’s competition.

NRK has been clear that we do not engage in a cultural boycott. What is important to us is that Eurovision is not used as a platform for politics, and the EBU has not been able to follow this up as well. We cannot have countries that use the competition as a platform for propaganda.

source: nrk.no