UK set to step in to host next Eurovision due to war in Ukraine

Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine seem on stage after profitable the 2022 Eurovision Music Contest in Turin, Italy, Could 15, 2022. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

LONDON, June 17 (Reuters) – The Eurovision Music Contest is more likely to be held in Britain in 2023 because the organisers deem it too dangerous for this 12 months’s winners Ukraine to host it because of the battle, drawing instant disappointment from Kyiv.

Whereas decades-long custom dictates that the winner of the competition will get to host it the next 12 months, organisers mentioned the safety ensures required to carry the competitors meant discussions could be held with the runner up, Britain.

Ukraine was not pleased with the choice, with Tradition Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko, on Telegram, demanding extra negotiations “as a result of we consider that we will fulfil all of the commitments we have now made”.

Britain’s entry to the competition final month in Turin, “SPACE MAN” by British singer-songwriter Sam Ryder, got here second behind Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra after a string of lowly finishes.

The group rode a wave of public assist to say an emotional victory with “Stefania” that was welcomed by the nation’s president.

Organiser the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) mentioned it was in discussions with British broadcaster the BBC to host the following occasion.

“The EBU … share their disappointment and disappointment that subsequent 12 months’s contest can’t be held in Ukraine,” the Eurovision Music Contest mentioned.

“It’s our full intention that Ukraine’s win can be mirrored in subsequent 12 months’s reveals.”

The occasion usually attracts a tv viewers of near 200 million.

“We’d be dedicated to making sure that it overwhelmingly displays Ukraine’s wealthy tradition, heritage and creativity in addition to constructing on the continuing partnership between our two international locations,” a spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was visiting Kyiv on Friday, mentioned.

The BBC mentioned: “Clearly these aren’t a set of circumstances that anybody would need … we are going to in fact focus on the BBC internet hosting the Eurovision Music Contest.”

The final time Britain hosted the annual competitors was in 1998 when it was held in Birmingham after British rock band Katrina and the Waves’ tune “Love Shine a Gentle” received the 12 months earlier than.

Reporting by Muvija M, Farouq Suleiman, Keith Weir and Elizabeth Piper in London, Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv; Modifying by Alison Williams

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