The Future of the Eurovision Song Contest

As we approach the new year we also come closer to the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest
(ESC). The contest is set to take place in Basel, Switzerland in May 2025 after the Swiss artist
Nemo won Eurovision in Malmö. The last ESC was certainly no stranger to controversy and with
the next one swiftly approaching there is a need to review certain events.
As many may recall, Dutch artist Joost Klein was disqualified from the ESC final this
year. Following his performance at the semi-final there was an incident where Joost Klein
repeatedly indicated that he did not want to be filmed after getting off stage, but this was ignored
by a camera woman. Joost Klein then made a threatening move towards the camera, however he
never touched the camera women. Once this incident was reported to the European Broadcasting
Union (EBU) they involved Swedish police and investigated the incident. Even though
AVROTROS discussed the unfortunate events with the EBU, the EBU nevertheless chose to
suspend Joost Klein from the competition. AVROTROS has repeatedly stated that this reaction
was “very heavy and disproportionate.”
The opinion of AVROTROS regarding the unjustified disqualification of Joost Klein was
only further supported when the Swedish public prosecutor suspended their investigation of Joost
Klein in August of this year. The investigation was suspended as there was no evidence of
criminal conduct. AVROTROS fully cooperated with this investigation as well as the
investigation of the EBU. However AVROTROS still has concerns regarding the internal
structure of the EBU and the ESC. Over the last few months we have had many talks with the
EBU regarding the rules and procedures of the contest.
The EBU General Assembly is set to meet in St. Gallen on December 5, 2024. On the
agenda is a discussion of the ESC suspension requirements in light of the events in May. More
specifically they may reevaluate long term suspensions and address future short term
suspensions. Dutch broadcasters will be represented in these discussions by the Nederlandse
Publieke Omroep (NPO), the administrative body for Dutch broadcasters. AVROTROS hopes
that the EBU general assembly will be able to address the issues at hand successfully and make
the necessary changes. We would like to never see a situation like that, which occurred at Malmö
again. So it is in light of that, that we hope to see the necessary adjustments made to ensure a
superb contest in Basel.