Bernese candidacy failed due to festival hall and referendum threats
Published: Friday, Jul 19th 2024, 12:10
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On Friday, the city presidents of Bern and Biel reacted with disappointment to the preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). They believe that their candidacy failed due to two factors.
On the one hand, the SRG saw risks in holding the event in Bern's new Festhalle, said Bern's mayor Alec von Graffenried (Green Free List) in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency. The Festhalle will not be completed until the end of March 2025, just a few weeks before the ESC.
The hall is currently still under construction. Apparently it takes a bit of imagination to envision a major event here in May 2025, said von Graffenried - while the infrastructure in Geneva and Basel is already ready. He himself is still convinced that the Festhalle would have been the best of all locations and that Bern/Biel could have mastered the event.
The threats of a referendum also had a negative impact. The SRG obviously wanted to avoid a referendum. Although there were also opponents in Basel and Geneva, the referendum threats were loudest in Bern and Zurich.
Biel also regrets
The mayor of Biel/Bienne, Erich Fehr (SP), also expressed regret at the decision. However, the chances of the Bern/Biel candidacy were only 25 percent anyway, given the four candidates.
The region could also benefit from the Eurovision Song Contest in Switzerland in this way, said Fehr - especially the hotel and restaurant industry. Switzerland was chosen because Nemo from Biel/Bienne won the ESC 2024. Supporting events should have been held in Biel.
©Keystone/SDA
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