Earlier this week the European Broadcasting Union acknowledged that its members have big concerns — and it pledged to address them across three major areas.
And, as a result of that, Norway’s Head of Delegation Stig Karlsen says his country is ready to participate in Eurovision in 2025.
“Now the EBU has recognized that they had problems this year and they are working to improve it,” he told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. “And what we’ve been told, in addition to what they’ve come out with publicly, sounds very good. So now we will work constructively and positively to get Norway into Eurovision in 2025.”
Even so, he says that not all of Norway’s specific concerns have been addressed.
“We hope that the EBU ensures that the ESC is not used as a political tool, because there was quite a bit of this this year,” he said. “It is also important that they become better at communicating, crisis management and security around the event.”
Israel is among the 16 countries that have already confirmed their participation in Switzerland next year. Israel’s participation was, of course, controversial before and during the most recent contest in Sweden.
“NRK has been clear that we do not engage in a cultural boycott,” Karlsen said. “What is important to us is that Eurovision is not used as a platform for politics, and the EBU has not been able to follow this up as well [as the other issues that Norway raised]. We cannot have countries that use the competition as a platform for propaganda.”
Following Eurovision, Norway’s act Gåte were very clear that they did not always feel totally safe backstage. Karlsen hopes that contestants will have a better experience next year.
“We must communicate well with the artist and provide an understanding of what we do and how we handle this. It is very important that the artist has a good experience throughout.”
Are you happy that Norway is returning to the competition? What concerns do you still have? Let us know in the comments box down below.
Eurovision has always been political, not just this year, why haven’t they complained every other year? Interesting, anyway, for as long as…certain countries (Azerbaijan, Israel etc) are involved, each year will continue to be political. Sadly that’s how it is but it’s nothing new.
Firstly, the issue of using Eurovision as a tool for propaganda is a serious matter and I hope it is looked into. Secondly, like it or not, the ESC is political, simply because each song is shown to be representing a national identity, i.e. A flag and a country. This is exactly what NRK and many other broadcasters already sign up for: The chance for countries to compete through music. The only way to make sure that the ESC is not used as a political tool would be to take away the countries that are being represented, i.e. Have the… Read more »
If I were Stig Karlsen, I’d put more energy on getting Norway out of last place than I would bleating about the EBU.
who cares about this fake competition?
keep going for last place entries to troll the contest
who cares about the fishwife eurofans
Ah! You really do know how to make one happy for what we have <3
I agree with this position. I think Israel should withdraw since it may be hard to find a justification in the rules to kick out the country. But if Israel participates again something has to change.
The fake clapping and the massive manipulation of public voting should not be tolerated. Israel poses as a liberal democracy and the what I saw was propaganda like a smelly autocratic regime. The day after Israeli media was all about “Europe still loves us”… Pathetic.
absolutely agree, since those fascist money lovers within the EBU find israeli moroccanoil more important
stinking dictator osterdahl
i hope another covid pandemic will come to cancel the contest again
i’m no socializer so, i am always at home
so yeah my opinions when it comes to music might just be different than most others
and ok fair enough i shouldn’t hope for that, i should be more selfless rather than selfish, but i am literally on my last nerve regarding all of this negativity
In England we would say “you don’t get out much, do you?”
By now, everyone should know he clearly isn’t.
No oneshould be kicked out of Eurovision, the EBU need to stop doing that, Russia invaded Ukraine, Israel invaded Palestine, Joost Klein didn’t want to be filmed and pushed a camera, so what? It’s not the EBU’s job to involve themselves in this and ban everyone, that’s the countries choice to invaded another, doesn’t involve the EBU.
The audacity! 2 of their juries said they gave 0 to eden just because of the war… so they don’t neet to talk about using politics at all… shame on them!
It wasn’t political.
A) the song wasn’t good
B) Countries committing a gen o cide shouldn’t be rewarded.
Your opinion doesn´t count dear
Demanding shame when Israel got eight points is kinda silly.
stop spreading your fishbreath everywhere, you stupid attention seeking troll
Depends on what they mean by political. Does that mean scarves, fingernails, and ancient text face tattoos will not be tolerated? Or might they do something about a country using Eurovision as a propaganda tool to improve their image while they commit international war crimes?
Welcome back B ANI
They will probably threaten to quit another 100 times. But they won’t of course.
the public also votes politically tbh i myself don’t, i voted for what i thought was the best song/performance, and this year in the semi that was San Marino for me, really above their usual standard, i was blown away by their wholesome epic performance and ”no doubt” inspired spanish rock entry in the final i voted for croatia, because the Lasagna gave it just that tiny bit more in the final compared to the semi which was already great but in the final it was super iconic and slightly cleaner vocals i never had one moment of thinking i… Read more »
hopefully we Netherlands aren’t as spineless as these losers and we go through with our withdrawal (hopefully for good)
otherwise the NPO deserves to be abolished, since we can’t have weak broadcasters in our nation
Nah. They are going to negotiate and the Netherlands will be given something to make them stay. Isn’t trade their specialty?
The Netherlands?
we shouldn’t stay, we should withdraw for good, as long as fascist israel participates
and you shut your f-ing mouth, troll anya
we netherlands are the superior power, we need to begin a strategic operation ourselves like russia is doing, but then on EBU’s headquarters
There is a theory going around since 2023 that Anonymous91 and Bejba are the same people.
“same person”, not “same people”. Please Wiwibloggs: Add the feature to edit message (and report people <3)
we aren’t the same people?
i defended Bejba one time and now there is a conspiracy going around we are the same
lol
The theory came from last year though
Of course Israel should take part. You can watch something else then, and let the rest of us have a big party.
Cowardly spineless norway UGH, another country which goes to my hatelist of asskissing ebu losers
Dear SpineLess Norway , Can You Picking A Side Please ? You Are So Preformative No One Actually Beliefs You When You Say Things Now . Stop With All The Gossip , Norway , And Do Something Instead Of Being A Complane
Of course, now that Norway has said that this show should not be (ab)used for political gains, then that’s just not going to happen and everything will be fine and we can participate and it will be nice.
This is peak Norway.
Give the wolves a banana, it’s a fairytale.
Ridiculous song can Norway do no better
No reason to.
We get zero points anyway, so we send whatever and call it a day….
I really hope that this is less political next year, and in the future, it makes it bad to watch, especially when the voting is on
What is “bad to watch” is the skewed jury voting towards certain entries (2023 and 2024) making the televote largely irrelevant even before the first mark (or, “sorry, zero points”) is called out.
oh let yourself get banged by eden golan the cheap israeli attention seeker
One thing’s for sure: we can’t have another edition like the last one. But I don’t think we will, either. Mostly because I’m optimistic there will be a ceasefire by then.
Thank you Nils for your optimism. Of course, the most important thing would be a ceasefire (in Ukraine and Gaza), and if the contest benefits from that, all the better.