Geopolitics of Eurovision - Unconquered Peaks

Eurovision is celebrated as a time when European countries come together to enjoy incredible musical talent and performances. It promises to be all about the music, rather than politics, but do alliances and foreign policy have an impact, even during a song competition?

Entering Eurovision:

Even when discounting the results, the voting procedures, and the actual songs, Eurovision is a very political affair from the moment that a country becomes eligible to sign up for it. The rule for who can participate is almost astonishingly broad: all that is required is that a country is part of the EBU (European Broadcasters Union), which means that you don’t actually have to be in Europe to join. Countries like Australia, Israel and Morocco have all competed in the past and are still eligible to do so.

For the many countries which could enter, yet choose not to, politics is often behind their decision. An example of this is the decision taken by Egypt, Jordan and other Middle Eastern countries, not to participate in Eurovision as a boycott against Israel’s continued involvement. These nations do not officially recognise Israel’s sovereignty, especially against the background of Israel’s ongoing war with Palestine and have stated that they will not enter Eurovision until Israel is barred from competing for an indefinite period of time.

The countries which do enter often do so with their own political agenda: a common theme among them is the view of Eurovision as a platform to develop and display their influence in the region. The prospect of hosting Eurovision offers many similar benefits to hosting the World Cup or the Olympics. For countries which don’t have the funding or facilities to host a major sporting event, the prospect of hosting Eurovision is incredibly appealing, and as such nations often invest heavily in their Eurovision act to give them the best possible chance of winning. This is certainly the case in smaller countries, for whom winning Eurovision would provide a great boost to their economy, reputation and political potential.

Voting in Eurovision:

If the process of entering the competition is heavily politicised, then the voting process to decide the winner is even more so. Eurovision’s split voting system is behind this as in the jury section of the vote, while a jury might be barred from voting for their own act, there is nothing to prevent them from voting for an ally. When multiple countries exchange votes for each other by following these rules, it forms a ‘voting bloc’. The most notable of these is the voting bloc between the Nordic countries, which has a very high success rate. In 2023 alone Sweden came 1^st, Finland 2^nd and Norway 5^th. The Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia have also exchanged votes in the past, and these voting blocs are often created through similar foreign policies, which in turn come from geographical closeness.

The existence of ‘voting blocs’ also explains why the ‘Big 5’ countries (UK, Spain, Germany, Italy and France) win Eurovision so infrequently. As they already hold great political influence, they are less likely to have alliances with other countries that would in turn exchange votes. Coincidentally, these countries are also the most likely to vote for politically neutral countries, to avoid expressing support for a particular side over a political issue. This in turn benefits countries such as Switzerland and Australia, who often finish unexpectedly high up the leader board, and usually receive votes from these 5 countries.

Interestingly, the geo-political bias that exists within the jury’s 50% of the vote is usually absent when the time comes for the public to vote. Part of this is because it is often far easier for a jury of only a few people to vote tactically, compared to the entire population of a country. The public are also more likely to vote based on preference and not based on political alliances. For 2023, Eurovision changed the format for the semi-finals, with only the public voting in that round, which has already produced some unexpected results. Denmark was eliminated in this semi-final round, despite being part of the Nordic voting bloc, which signals that perhaps the question of who supports whom in Eurovision is not as clear-cut as might be expected, especially when the general public is involved.

Final thoughts

Eurovision might theoretically be a politically neutral event, but under the surface this is not really the case. While it might be subtle, and definitely shouldn’t take away from the celebration of music that the competition is, political aims and alliances do determine some of the decisions made within the contest, leading to disappointment and frustration for some of the fans.

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