Eurovision is supposed to be politically neutral: How does the EBU plan to regulate the political neutrality of sponsors?

The issue of sponsoring for the ESC has become a controversial topic in the EBU. This issue was already raised yesterday by the Netherlands in an attempt to discuss the political conflict of interest sponsors could pose, however the topic was not addressed by the committee until Italy raised the issue again this morning. Italy suggested that the EBU return to its former model of sponsoring, where the host country was required to provide all the sponsors.

Some other countries seemed to agree that sponsors pose a potential threat to the apolitical nature of the ESC. Sweden and Iceland both showed support for Italy’s suggestion. They too saw a problem with the large and powerful sponsors from certain countries that may influence decisions within the ESC.

On the other side of the debate are countries that feel there is no need to discuss the issue of sponsoring or make any changes to the process. Germany stated multiple times that they do not see an issue with the way sponsorships are currently handled and that they would not see this as an issue until there was concrete proof of political influence of a sponsor. France agreed with Germany, stating that the issue of sponsorship was not an issue of high concern.

Switzerland, the host country of the next ESC, also agreed with the statements made by Germany and France. Switzerland, who denied two requests for an interview from AVROTROS yesterday, further stated that sponsors should however be financially viable and not provoke political issues. Yet this second requirement of political neutrality of sponsors is precisely the reason why countries like Italy and the Netherlands raised the issue of sponsorship.

Switzerland also declared that host countries could and should not be solely responsible for finding sponsors for the ESC. This was a point that Armenia agreed with as they see an issue with small host countries potentially struggling to find sponsors and sponsors from certain countries potentially being more politically controversial then the current sponsors.

Some countries used the opportunity to discuss the ethics of sponsors. Israel defended the sponsorship of Moroccan Oil, stating they were highly ethical and not tied to the Israeli government. Ukraine raised the issue that no sponsor is likely to fit the ethical guidelines of all members and asked the committee to find more realistic solutions. This realistic solution was not suggested by the delegate of Azerbaijan, who proposed finding more European sponsors for the ESC, and gave Airbus as an example.

Italy continued to expand their plan for sponsors. They suggested that host countries should select sponsors and then submit them to an ethical review board of the EBU, which should then approve the sponsor. Italy hopes that such measures would improve the transparency in the EBU and increase public trust in the union.

The road to compromise on dealing with sponsorships is still ahead of the committee and it will be interesting to see what they may come to agree upon.