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Dutch public broadcaster granted extension by EBU to decide on Eurovision 2025 Participation

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The Dutch public broadcaster, AVROTROS, has been granted an extension by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to decide whether it will participate in the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, which will take place next May in Basel, Switzerland.

This announcement followed the first meeting between the EBU and AVROTROS, which was requested by the Dutch side to discuss what happened behind the scenes at the contest in Malmö. Among other issues, these events led to the exclusion of the Dutch representative from the final for non-competition-related reasons.

As a result, the Netherlands will not have until September 15th, like other countries, to confirm its participation in the EBU, but will have until November 1st. This timeframe is considered reasonable to allow the dialogue between the EBU and AVROTROS to be completed and any misunderstandings to be resolved.

Cornald Maas, the commentator for AVROTROS at the contest, expressed his support for Dutch participation, stating that he believes the most appropriate response to this year’s events would be a strong entry in Switzerland rather than an absence.

“I believe the best response is to participate and have a good entry. It’s a better answer than staying home, complaining, preaching, and amplifying your own annoyance for another year,” Maas said.

Meanwhile, 29 countries have already confirmed their participation in Eurovision 2025 in one way or another, and the remaining question marks can now be counted on the fingers of two hands.

How many countries will ultimately participate in Eurovision 2025?

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

EBU: Heads of delegation meet in Croatia to discuss Eurovision 2025!

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The Heads of Delegation are meeting in Dubrovnik, Croatia to discuss about the Eurovision Song Contest 2025.

During this week, Heads of Delegation will start shaping next year’s Eurovision to be held in Switzerland.  As the deadline for countries to announce if they are participating in Basel approaches, the HoD reviews the procedures and EBU governance.

The attending broadcasters will find out more about the EBU’s plans for the competition during this week’s meeting.  Last summer a report was released for the delegations on the incidents that took place during the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.  Therefore, the recommendations of this report could be one of the topics of interest for the HoD.

We are looking forward to see what innovations and suggestions this first meeting will bring to the competition.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 will be held in Basel, Switzerland on May 13, 15 and 17.

Source: Eurovoix.

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Netherlands: Joost Klein had a previous confrontation with the camerawoman

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The camerawoman to whom Joost Klein made a threatening gesture is said to have had an earlier altercation with the Dutch representative during the week of the Eurovision Song Contest. This is reported by the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet based on the reports of the police interrogations of Klein and the woman, after the incident that cost Joost Klein his place in the Eurovision 2024 final. Aftonbladet published parts of the police reports and thus more details are revealed.

The previous incident reported by the woman allegedly took place when Klein was returning backstage. The singer had asked the woman to stop filming, which she did not do “because she had signed a document agreeing to the filming. I was just doing my job,” he said. According to the woman, the Dutch team apologized after this incident and promised that Klein “wouldn’t react this way again” during the festival.

When Klein made a threatening gesture towards her during the second incident, the woman did not react at first “because I thought Joost was joking”. Klein “became angrier. I felt scared and vulnerable,” the woman reportedly said during her first police interview the night before the final of the Song Contest.

The police informed the singer that the woman was demanding compensation of 7,000 kroner, over 600 euros. According to Aftonbladet, Klein told police interrogations that he had “vague memories of the event”. The singer in that questioning claimed that he made the threatening gesture towards the woman’s camera and not towards the woman herself. According to Aftonbladet, Klein also said at the first interrogation that he was innocent of the crime he was suspected of. “I don’t recognize myself in the incident,” Klein reportedly said.

Aftonbladet did not publish the full police report. Many passages have been blacked out.

AVROTROS and his manager Klein say the singer was “really harassed many times” during the Eurovision Song Contest, but would not comment on whether the Dutch team apologized to the woman after the first incident. The cameraman’s lawyer did not respond to the report.

The Swedish prosecutor’s office dropped the case against Klein in early August because there was not enough evidence to prove that Klein made his “threatening act” with the intention of causing “serious fear” to the camerawoman.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

Source:nltimes

Joost Klein: “There is no time to deal with filing a lawsuit against the EBU”

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Joost Klein does not intend to take legal action against the EBU, despite initial information to the contrary, the artist’s manager announced. There is no time and space to deal with something like this, was the relevant announcement of the representative of the Dutch artist.

Joost Klein immediately after the Swedish prosecutor’s office dropped his criminal prosecution, due to doubts and insufficient evidence, he had stated through his lawyer that he was considering filing a lawsuit against the EBU.

Joost is the right person to file a police report. Joost’s manager called me and we will think about it.

Gerard Spong, lawyer of Joost Klein

This statement came immediately after the publication of the decision of the Dutch public television – AVROTROS, not to pursue the case in court, but to resolve any pending issues with the EBU through dialogue.

Today, the artist’s manager states that he will not take any other legal action himself, since he has neither the time nor the space to deal with such a thing.

I sent Gerard Spong a quick email thanking him for his interesting take, but to be quite honest, we don’t really have the time or space to work on it right now.

Rick Bakker, manager of Joost Klein

AVROTROS has stated that it will soon meet with the EBU to discuss everything that happened behind the scenes of this year’s competition. So far it has not been clarified whether the country will participate in Eurovision 2025.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

Source: rtl

EBU: Joost Klein violated the contest rulles and was disqualified

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As expected, the EBU immediately after the announcement of the Swedish public prosecutor’s office, which due to doubts and lack of evidence closed the case file for any criminal offenses of Joost Klein regarding the incident that occurred during the previous contest, issued explanatory notice on the official website of the competition. The EBU says that the expulsion of Joost Klein from Eurovision 2024, was done because he violated the regulations of the contest and was independent of the judicial outcome of the case.

Joost Klein “innocent” beyond doubt

According to what the Swedish public prosecutor’s office announced earlier, the case file was closed for lack of evidence. This means that Joost Klein will not be prosecuted further.

The Swedish public prosecutor writes that the investigation into a 26-year-old man who allegedly threatened a woman has been closed. The investigation shows that Klein made a motion that hit the camera. According to the prosecutor, the incident happened quickly and the stories of Klein and the camerawoman are conflicting. It is therefore not possible to know exactly what happened and whether there was criminally unacceptable behavior under Swedish law.

Today the investigation is closed because it cannot be proven that this act caused real fear and that this was the man’s intention.

Fredrik Jönsson, prosecutor

 

The EBU stands by its decision to expel Joost Klein

The EBU expelled Joost Klein from the final of Eurovision 2024 as you remember, immediately after the complaint of a worker in the production of the contest. Wanting to clarify its position, the EBU immediately after today’s acquittal of Joost Klein from the criminal prosecution states:

The EBU aims to ensure the Eurovision Song Contest is a show for everyone and is a safe place for staff, artists, guests and fans.

Like all responsible employers, we do not tolerate inappropriate behaviour and will always respond to any workplace issues that are reported to us.

The decision to disqualify Mr Klein from this year’s event was made in strict accordance with Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) rules and governance procedures, after an internal investigation.

In parallel, Swedish police decided to open a formal investigation into the conduct of Mr Klein during the Second Semi Final, which we understand was closed today without further action.

This was an investigation into whether a criminal act was committed and not whether Mr Klein behaved inappropriately and breached ESC rules and procedures. This new development therefore does not have any impact on our decision which we stand by completely.

Jean Philip De Tender, Αναπληρωτής Γενικός Διευθυντής και Διευθυντής Μέσων Ενημέρωσης της EBU

Essentially, based on the above announcement, the criminal responsibilities of Joost Klein, which do not exist according to the Swedish prosecutor’s office, are separated from the violation of the competition regulations that were violated in the incident in question, a conclusion reached by the EBU after an internal investigation which he did.

We now await with interest the reaction of the Dutch public television AVROTROS and the decision it will take on its participation or not in Eurovision 2025 next May in Switzerland.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

Source: Eurovision.tv

Eurovision 2025: Host City announcement to take place on August 30!

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We are now officially a few weeks away from knowing the first major detail about the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. We are of course talking about the announcement of the host city of the next Contest, which seems to be really close!

In particular, SRG SSR, the public broadcaster of Switzerland, announced through a post on their social media accounts, the exact date of this announcement. In one month from now, this long-awaited announcement is going to take place, namely, on August 30:

The two cities left in the race are Basel and Geneva. Whichever of the two cities chosen in the end, for yet another year, the capital of the hosting country, will not host the Contest.

Which city would you like to see host Eurovision 2025? Write us in the comments!

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all developments regarding Eurovision 2025, in Geneva or Basel!

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

Netherlands: The Ducth commentator, Cornald Maas, answers to Edward af Sillen!

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Earlier yesterday, 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, that of Joost Klein and the Turkish football player, Merih Demiral.

His post received both positive and negative reactions, saying that the comparison is out of place. Cornald Maas, the Dutch commentator, stated the same below Edward af Sillen’s post. In detail, he commented the following:

“Oh really? No better/more meaningful comparisons? You can try better (I hope)”

The Dutch disqualification, is a topic that concerned both fans and the EBU itself, which 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. However, it’s only logical that the Dutch commentator is negative about the whole treatment of the subject.

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

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

EBU: Tighter rules and creation of new roles for Eurovision 2025!

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The highly anticipated result of the independent research, regarding all the matters that took place in Malmö, and filled the Contest’s name with a lot of negativity, were given away by the EBU. Read more