The 13 Members of the European Parliament come from seven different countries (Slovenia, Ireland, Spain, France, Cyprus, Greece, and Finland), and have written an open letter to the top executives of the EBU. In the letter, they repeat several of the concerns published by various broadcasters across Europe, and ask the organization to take several steps in order to restore credibility to the contest and to its message, listing six actions.
A credibility crisis after a succession of concerns from broadcasters
The letter, which you can find in full at the end of the article, is officially addressed to Delphine Ernotte (President of the EBU and of France Télévisions), Noel Curran (Director General), Ana Maria Bordas (new chair of the Eurovision Reference Group, and 2025 Head of Delegation for Spain) and to the members of the EBU Executive Committee.
The letter tackles the recent calls for transparency from several Eurovision broadcasters, including Spain’s RTVE, Belgium’s VRT, the Netherlands’ NPO and Avrotros, Slovenia’s RTV SLO, Iceland’s RÚV, Ireland’s RTÉ, Norway’s NRK or Finland’s YLE, explaining that the multiplication of such calls, including broadcasters casting doubts over their own televote, “should be an alarm bell” and “reflects a genuine credibility crisis“.
While the Eurovision Song Contest is a celebration of culture and music, not politics, it is clear that systemic issues surrounding transparency, fairness, and undue influence now threaten the very values the EBU claims to hold up: independence, impartiality, and public trust. Both members of the public and several national broadcasters have already raised serious concerns regarding possible voting manipulation and the use of state-run promotional infrastructure in support of this year’s participating act from Israel.
Open letter to the EBU by 13 MEPs
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The growing pattern of national broadcasters doubting the validity of their own countries’ data should be an alarm bell to the EBU. While a certain degree of dissent and criticism is natural in international competitions such as the Eurovision, the succession of such concerns from multiple countries reflects a genuine credibility crisis. Without full transparency, and necessary change in how the competition operates, Eurovision risks losing the confidence of both its member organizations and its audience.
The specific messages from the previously mentionned broadcasters differ: some, like RTVE and RTV SLO, want a full audit of the voting. Others do not go that far but demand a breakdown of their own vote, like VRT, RÚV or RTÉ. Finally, others like NRK, YLE or NPO/AVROTROS call for a review of the voting system, with the potential to reform it for 2026 in order to limit the potential for politicisation and manipulation.
The 13 MEPs go full on with the three types of request, and demand a full breakdown of all the votes, by country and by voting method, as well as an independent audit and a review of the system to propose changes “in order to prevent political interference or manipulation“. These are half of the concrete steps the MEPs ask the EBU to take in the coming months.
The questions surrounding Israel’s participation and promotion campaign
The letter also mentions the state-sponsored promotion campaign for Israel, which was uncovered by the EBU Spotlight fact-checking service during the contest. They explain that the intervention of a government on such a coordinated scale undermines the values of the contest and the non-political character of this year’s entry “New Day Will Rise”.
Equally troubling is the revelation that the Israeli Government Advertising Agency (Lapam) was directly involved in orchestrating and funding a cross-platform campaign to promote Israel’s 2025 entry. This included Lapam purchasing demographically-targeted digital ads which reached millions of viewers, building on top of 2024’s effort which saw direct involvement from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs4. Such coordinated, state-backed activity raises fundamental concerns about the contestant’s neutrality as well as impartiality and fairness.
Open letter to the EBU by 13 MEPs
European Broadcasting Union rules explicitly require national broadcasters to remain independent and non-partisan. The claim that the Israeli public broadcaster Kan is such an independent outlet was a key argument in the EBU’s response to calls for the expulsion of Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest. An Israeli contestant benefiting from state-sponsored advertising significantly undermines this claim and raises doubts about the non-political character of this year’s performance.
From these concerns stem the three other steps the authors of the letter ask the EBU to take.
One of these is to “clarify and implement restrictions on government-sponsored promotion of Eurovision entries, including an explicit prohibition of state-directed advertising agencies influencing voting outcomes“, a direct response to the Lapam reveals.
The other two are to reveal all the direct and indirect advertising contracts as well as all the sponsorship contracts. The latter may be a reflection on a theory, which has not been proven, that Israeli-owned sponsor like Morocannoil may have an undue influence on the continued presence of Israel in the contest.
Who are the signatories?
The letter was the initiative of Slovenian MEP Matjaž Nemec, a social-democrat. He was joined by twelve colleagues, all from left-leaning movements and parties.
- Matjaž NEMEC (S&D, Slovenia)
- Aodhán Ó RÍORDÁIN (S&D, Ireland)
- Rima HASSAN (The Left, France)
- Barry ANDREWS (Renew, Ireland)
- Vicent MARZÀ IBÁÑEZ (Greens/EFA, Spain)
- Ana MIRANDA PAZ (Greens/EFA, Spain)
- Vladimir PREBILIČ (Greens/EFA, Slovenia)
- Nikos PAPPAS (NI, Greece)
- Irena JOVEVA (Renew, Slovenia)
- Lynn BOYLAN (The Left, Ireland)
- Giorgos GEORGIOU (The Left, Cyprus)
- Maria OHISALO (Greens/EFA, Finland)
- Mounir SATOURI (Greens/EFA, France)
For clarity, the S&D are the Social-Democrats, The Left represent a more left-leaning caucus within the European Parliament, while Renew is a more centrist movement, linked to the likes of Emmanuel Macron ; as for the Greens/EFA, they are a coalition caucus of green and regionalist parties from across Europe.
Nemec was the one to advertise and release the letter on his personal website, with comments that are much more critical of the EBU than the letter itself. On his website, he accuses the organisation of being bought, and is much more directly critical of Israel’s presence and use of the contest as part of its soft power strategy, calling the contest “a tool of state propaganda”.
For the EBU, which has been successfully juggling between obfuscation and PR rhetoric in recent years, duplicity is clearly something that can be bought. Transparency is only valuable as long as it remains in the opening credits. But if several national broadcasters, two of which are among the largest in Europe, simultaneously announce that they doubt the legitimacy of their own televoting, then the problem is no longer a “data mismatch.” Eurovision must remain a place where voices are treated equally and where political influences have no place.
Matjaž NEMEC about the open letter
While we await the EBU’s response, the key question remains: can we still talk about Eurovision as a cultural space when foreign interests have shamelessly taken the stage and the competition has become a tool of state propaganda that justifies the genocide in Gaza, and this with the taxpayers’ money of Europeans
The letter in full
What do you think of this letter? Do you agree that the contest faces a “credibility crisis” ? What do you think of the concrete steps the MEPs suggest? What other steps would you suggest? Tell us more in the comments below or on social media at @escxtra!
