Following the banning of the European flag, the European Commission and MEPs are asking the organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest to explain themselves.
The Vice-President of the European Commission, Margarítis Schinás, has asked the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to explain why it banned participants and spectators from flying the European flag at last weekend’s music competition in Malmö.
“Less than a month before the European elections and in times of geopolitical turbulence, with the EU being targeted by malicious and authoritarian actors, EBU's decision contributed to discrediting a symbol that brings together all Europeans”, he deplored in a letter sent to the EBU’s president, France’s Delphine Ernotte Cunci, on Monday 13 May.
He highlights the “contrast” between such a ban and the green light given by the Paris 2024 organisers to the flying of the European flag at the next Olympic Games.
Present in Brussels on Tuesday 14 May, the French Minister for Sport, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, confirmed “the presence of the EU flag alongside the French flag at all Olympic and Paralympic competition venues and in the heart of the athletes’ village”.
See the letter from Mr Schinas: https://aeur.eu/f/c7f
The same is true of the European Parliament, where fourteen MEPs from the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe and The Left groups, led by Domènec Ruiz Devesa (S&D, Spanish), believe that “censoring the European flag deprives participants and citizens of a symbol of their political community” in another letter also sent to the EBU on Tuesday.
In their view, citing “increased geopolitical tensions” is difficult to understand, given that the European flag is intended to bring people together. They are therefore asking the organisers to amend the guidelines governing the competition.
See the MEPs’ letter: https://aeur.eu/f/c7g (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)