Was Eurovision 2024 the most politicised Eurovision ever?

From alleged double standards to positive discrimination, Europe’s biggest and, arguably most famous, music contest faced the peak of criticism over this year’s event.

Eurovision 2024 wrapped up last week in Malmo, Sweden, amid a turbulent mix of mass protests, boycotts, and political messages, despite this year's motto: "United by Music".

The question of whether Eurovision is political has long sparked heated debate but never been fully settled.

The Geneva-based European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which oversees Eurovision, reaffirmed its stance as a "non-political music organisation".

However, every act of theirs shows otherwise.

How Eurovision is used to promote European values

From participant country selection to on-and-off-stage displays, Eurovision operates under its own set of rules.

Despite being separate from the EU, the Eurovision Song Contest is closely aligned with the EU's public diplomacy.

Experts told TRT World that the EU sees the event as a strategic platform to promote its values and principles, using sponsorship and public diplomacy efforts to do so.

A commentator on Eurovision, Dr Dean Vuletic, says, "This year, the EU sponsored an event at the University City of Malmo in which there were panel discussions and talks about Eurovision and the EU."

"If we go back to the late 1980s and 1990, the predecessor of the EU, the European Community, even sponsored some editions of the Eurovision Song Contest to promote its European years," Vuletic, the writer of the book titled Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest, adds.

This falls into the "soft power" area, according to Filiz Cicioglu from Sakarya University.

"The EU uses public diplomacy, especially soft power, in many regions to promote its values and ideals," Cicioglu says.

Ali Murat Kirik, chairperson from Marmara University, on the other hand, evaluates the contest as a "public diplomacy tool to promote the diversity and unity of Europe".

"For many European countries, Eurovision signifies the celebration of European identity and values," Kirik tells TRT World.

Politics starts where EBU says so

Thousands marched in Malmo to protest Israel's participation in the contest following its invasion of Gaza, where more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed over the last seven months.

Both outsider and insider protestors attempted to voice their discontent.

However, any demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli occupation was strictly prohibited since day one, with any call for peace deemed "political".

As seen in the grand finale, the Western ally Israel received special treatment, including the use of fake applause on mainstream media to mask boos and chants for a free Palestine during their performance.

Many contestants and audience members questioned how calling for peace could be deemed “political,” especially when Israel's team, with an open political reference, mocked the boos and chants for a free Palestine with outbursts of laughter in the background.

In a statement issued on January 31, 2024, EBU Director General Noel Curran emphasised that the Eurovision Song Contest is a "non-political music organisation", explicitly stating, "It is not a contest between governments."

Dr Vuletic says the contest was created "to promote cooperation among countries through popular music and television."

"The concept behind the contest itself is not political," he reaffirms. However, "Eurovision has always been entangled in the politics of its time".

Why Israel doesn't get the same treatment as Russia?

The inclusion of Israel in Eurovision this year faced boycotts and criticism following its military offensive in Gaza.

This naturally led to comparisons between the approaches towards Russia and Israel. Russia was immediately excluded from the contest in 2022 after it sent troops to Ukraine, sanctioned by Western countries.

However, Israel has not faced any Western sanctions or exclusion.

Luvetic says this is why "the European Broadcasting Union doesn't have a political mandate to ban Israel, as it did with Russia."

Cicioglu, on the other hand, criticises the decision as "double standards".

"Europe demonstrated a double standard by refraining from disqualifying Israel," Cicioglu says.

When asked why Israel has not been banned from the contest like Russia following its attack on Ukraine in 2022, the EBU stated, 'Comparisons between wars and conflicts are complex and difficult and, as a non-political media organisation, not ours to make,' echoing the approach taken by Western leaders towards both issues.

Eurovision to influence Europe’s LGBT+ ‘values’

The Eurovision Song Contest continues to spawn unprecedented controversy days after the winner was crowned.

This year's winner is Switzerland's Nemo, a 24-year-old "non-binary" individual in a pink skirt.

Nemo dedicated the win to "everyone out there who's non-binary, gender-fluid, transgender."

To some, the skirt symbolised a victory for the LGBT movement, while to others, it appeared as a political move in alliance with the European Union's foreign policy.

According to Kirik, the competition is used "as a platform to showcase cultures, values, and political views".

Nemo's victory swiftly stirred political discussions in Switzerland, with the youth wing of the Green Liberal Party asserting that Nemo's success was a triumph for Switzerland and non-binary individuals, calling for redesignation.

LGBT+ politics has been proactively embraced and promoted in the European Union's foreign and public policy.

EBU typically prohibits political displays during the show, including the EU flag, but has made an exception by allowing rainbow-coloured flags since 2016.

The fact that the flag restriction included the EU flag led to strong criticism from the EU.

"The incoherence in the EBU's stance has left myself and many millions of your viewers wondering for what and for whom the Eurovision Song Contest stands," EU Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas wrote to the organiser in an unusually sharp letter.

For Cicioglu, "the EU's reaction to not being allowed to fly its own flag could actually be seen as a harbinger of further protests or disagreements between countries in next year's".

Kirik, on the other hand, evaluates Nemo's win along with granting special permission for LGBT+ flags, where even the EU's flag was prohibited, as a "political influence."

Some countries, including Türkiye, have withdrawn from the contest over the last decade, confronting this trend and protesting the redesigning of its voting system in 2009.