Organized in Switzerland, the 2025 edition of Eurovision will benefit from significant funding.
The residents of Basel have indeed validated the public investment of their municipality to ensure the event goes well.
If rejected, the competition would have been limited to the traditional television evening, without entertainment across the city.
Invited to express themselves in the headlines, the voters of the Swiss city of Basel approved this Sunday by an overwhelming majority the financing of nearly 40 million euros for the hosting in their city of the next Eurovision ceremony . Provisional voting results show that 66.4% of voters in this northern Swiss city are in favor of using taxpayers’ money. The expected expenditure should reach nearly 35 million Swiss francs (37.4 million euros) to host the show in the best conditions.
Some voices denounce a “waste” of public money
This vote was expected among our neighbors since without funding from the host city, the television event, which attracts a huge global audience, would have been considerably truncated. Switzerland won Eurovision 2024 in Sweden, an edition which smiled on the non-binary artist Nemo. The 2025 edition is due to be held in May in this Rhine town, on the border of France and Germany. The authorities hope for 60 million francs in immediate benefits.
While a large part of the public is delighted, the Federal Democratic Union (UDF), a small party defending “timeless Christian values”had launched a referendum to denounce a “real waste” of public money. The party, described as ultra-conservative by the Swiss press, had also put on the table a series of security and moral arguments.
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If the city’s contribution was rejected, the event planned for around ten days would have been rethought. Switzerland would have limited it “on a big TV show on Saturday night”without the organization of public events outside the main stage, had warned the head of communications for Eurovision 2025, Edi Estermann. “We are a city of art, fine arts, but also music. It’s always very important for our city”for her part estimated Andrea Strahm, lawyer and member of the Basel Parliament.
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