Eurovision: harmonious musical extravaganza or geopolitical battlefield?
By Ella Muhlemann
The Eurovision Song Contest is an inherently political event. For years, the organisers of Eurovision, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), have maintained that Eurovision is apolitical. One of the foundational rules of the contest is that the use of songs for the purpose of political activism is forbidden. Even in 2026, amidst the intense scrutiny directed at Israel’s participation, the EBU’s Deputy Director General, Jean Philip De Tender, claimed that ‘We’re not the United Nations, so we don’t need to make any political decisions’. Is this a monumental disavowal of the contest’s responsibility given its prominence on the global stage? It seems to me that such a public interaction between nations, even in the form of entertaining and often eccentric musical performances, cannot be extricated from international politics.
Since its inception, Eurovision has been tied to politics. The contest was established in 1956 to repair the fractured bonds between nations following the Second World War. As such, Eurovision’s slogan is ‘United by Music’; it was formed with and continues to be characterised by the intention of consolidating the innately political bonds between nations. Researchers from the University of Rome, University College Dublin, and the University of Central Florida have analysed jury voting patterns and found that ‘collusive pairs’ of nations, typically neighbouring countries, have tended to vote for one another. Among these pairs are the UK and Ireland, Sweden and Finland, and France and Germany. The contest has thus served as a platform for consolidating political alliances; clearly, factors other than the quality of performances delivered have been considered. In 2023, the rules were amended so that only the public vote determined which acts progressed from the semifinal to the final. However, the EBU still has a long way to go in recognising the political responsibility the contest is inescapably endowed with.
In this year’s contest, these political undercurrents have been brought to the forefront. Following confirmation of Israel’s participation in Vienna, five nations – Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, and Slovenia – announced their decisions to boycott the event. Israel’s participation in Eurovision has been highly controversial since 2023, when Israel launched a military offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack on Israel. This offensive has led to the deaths of over 72,000 people in Gaza and has been deemed a genocide by Amnesty International. The decision not to partake in Eurovision is ostensibly made by the nations’ broadcasting networks. However, all the boycotting nations’ governments have condemned Israel’s military action in Gaza, and all but the Netherlands have recognised a Palestinian state. Participation in the contest is a political statement; these decisions to boycott Eurovision solidified these nations’ stances towards Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Although this year the EBU maintained that Eurovision is unaffected by geopolitical conflicts, Russia was banned from the contest in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine that same year. The EBU expelled Russia on the same grounds that many argue they should expel Israel: because Russian entry would ‘bring the competition into disrepute’. It is difficult for the EBU to continue to claim that Eurovision is apolitical when it responds to some geopolitical crises and not others.
You can tell a lot about the geopolitical climate in a certain year based on participation in and attitudes towards Eurovision. The decision to participate in an event designed to foster unity makes a clear statement about political allegiances. Greece boycotted the contest in 1975, in the wake of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, due to Turkish participation, and in 2012 Armenia withdrew from the contest because it was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, with whom Armenia was engaged in conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Participation in the contest projects an image of unity on the global stage. Governments and broadcasters are clearly aware that, if they participate in a friendly competition designed to bring nations together, it could easily be perceived as condoning the political actions of those involved.
The Eurovision Song Contest is clearly a political event. That is not to say that it is not a joyful celebration of music; there is a reason why it garners millions of viewers each year. However, by its very nature as a public meeting of nations, it is political. Reputations are at stake and relations are reaffirmed. Even if the organisers want Eurovision to be a utopian liminal space, where everyone can be friends, they cannot continue to neglect their responsibilities as a self-proclaimed symbol of global unity. Such harmony cannot be achieved whilst wars continue to rage, with terrible atrocities being committed by nations permitted acceptance into Eurovision. If Eurovision continues to feign political exoneration, the precedent set by boycotting nations in 2026 suggests that Eurovision’s collapse is a likely eventuality.
Image credit: Tobias Kleinlercher / Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 4.0
