Plans for the Junior Eurovision 2021 opening ceremony in Paris, France next week are changing in response to coronavirus risks.
The JESC opening ceremony, set to be held in Paris on December 13, will be held without delegations. That means no artists will attend.
The event will feature Carla, Élodie Gossuin and Olivier Minne drawing the running order for the 19 competing entries.
Delegations will not attend Junior Eurovision 2021 opening ceremony
France Télévisions and the EBU confirmed the change of plan earlier this week to French news outlet Télé-Loisirs.
In response to the changing COVID-19 landscape and the emergence of the omicron variant in France, the Junior Eurovision organisers have scaled back on some arrangements ahead of artists arriving in Paris.
French head of delegation Alexandra Redde-Amiel said: “We have reflected well with the management of France Télévisions and the EBU. We will not do the opening ceremony as it is. We do not want to take the risk, on December 13, of having all the delegations come to one place.”
The ceremony is still set to go ahead, but without a red carpet-style artist runway, like that of Eurovision 2021 in Rotterdam.
Hosts Carla, Élodie Gossuin and Olivier Minne will draw the running order for the 19 competing countries, with France’s entry — “Tic Tac” by Enzo — and the countries opening and closing drawn at random.
Producers will determine the remaining running order ahead of the grand final on Sunday December 19.
The full opening ceremony will be broadcast live on YouTube.
Will you be tuning in to watch the Junior Eurovision 2021 opening ceremony? Are you disappointed the event has changed? Sound off in the comments below.
Huh, Covid literally ruins everything… But I understand, the safety of the artists and the delegations comes first. Hope the final will go as planned ?
Perfectly understandable. Reduce the risk as much as possible
I am presuming with the running order draw that France will be separated from the other countries from the random draw for first and last slot–wouldn’t it be funny if it ended up opening or closing the show?
I suppose the random draw for first and last slots are only for the others (not for the host country)…
Understandable