Swiss ultra-conservative party hands in signatures against Eurovision 2025
Basel has been chosen to host the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest at the St Jakobshalle Arena.
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Listening: Swiss ultra-conservative party hands in signatures against Eurovision 2025
The Swiss Federal Democratic Union (EDU) has handed in signatures for a referendum to try to prevent the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) from taking place in Basel from May 13 to 17, 2025.
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Un référendum de l’UDF impose un vote sur le crédit ESC à Bâle
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The EDU wants a vote on November 24 on the CHF37.5 million ($43.3 million) loan recently granted by Basel cantonal parliament to organise the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC).
On Saturday, the party submitted 4,203 signatures for the referendum; at least 2,000 certified signatures had to be collected and submitted by October 26. The signatures must now be validated by the Basel State Chancellery.
On September 11, Basel cantonal parliament approved the loan for Eurovision 2025 proposed by the government by 87 votes to 4, with 4 abstentions.
The EDU is the only political group to contest the loan. It only has a small presence in canton Basel City and had to rely on support from outside the canton to collect signatures.
The small Christian party had already announced earlier that it would launch a referendum against public spending on the “propaganda event”.
Translated from French by DeepL/sb
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