The Polish public broadcaster and Ministry of Culture have called on the EBU to continue talks with Ukraine regarding Eurovision 2023.
The Polish Ministry of Culture and the Board of TVP have jointly called for the European Broadcasting Union to continue discussions with UA:PBC and the Ukrainian Government about hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The statement reads:
We support the position of UA:PBC and the Ukrainian authorities, in which they call for negotiations on the organization of the competition with the participation of representatives of the country-winner of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
We assure you of our continued support for the Ukrainian public broadcaster in the search for such an organizational model for next year’s Eurovision 2023 competition, which will take into account the largest possible share of Ukrainian creators and producers as well as the audience from this country.
TVP is the first broadcaster to publicly support Ukraine’s calls for additional talks with the European Broadcasting Union after the organisation announced on Friday that the contest could not be held in Ukraine. In a statement released on Friday the EBU explained:
Following objective analysis, the Reference Group, the ESC’s governing board, has with deep regret concluded that, given the current circumstances, the security and operational guarantees required for a broadcaster to host, organize and produce the Eurovision Song Contest under the ESC Rules cannot be fulfilled by UA:PBC.
The European Broadcasting Union is now set to begin discussions with the BBC in the United Kingdom about hosting the contest, and numerous cities across the country have voiced their interest in hosting.
Image source: EBU / Nathan Reinds | Source: TVP
Poland debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 alongside a number of other Eastern European countries. Their debut year saw their best result to date, as Edyta Gorniak finished in 2nd place with her song “To nie ja!”. Following this, Poland failed to repeat this initial success, managing a top 10 placing on only one other occasion during their initial 1994-2011 run in the contest. In 2012, following a string of non-qualifications, Poland withdrew from the contest due to financial difficulties. Since their return in 2014, they have been considerably more successful in the contest, having qualified for the final for every year up to 2017.
