After Nemo's victory in the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö in May, Switzerland and the city of Basel are to host next year's competition. That's the plan.
But Switzerland has a system of direct democracy and the Christian right-wing party EDU has requested a referendum to stop the economic support from the local region, the canton of Basel, to the arrangement.
450 million kronor
On Sunday, the citizens of Basel will vote. If it's a no, it will have major consequences. The canton has provided economic guarantees of 37.5 million Swiss francs, equivalent to approximately 450 million Swedish kronor.
Without the money, it will be difficult to carry out the arrangement.
The Eurovision Song Contest would then have to be significantly scaled down. Instead of a ten-day festival, it would be a single TV broadcast on Saturday evening, without any side activities and thus less value for the city and for Switzerland as a whole, says Edi Estermann, press chief of the Swiss organizers, to TT.
The organizers estimate that the two semifinals that select the final entries would need to be scrapped to make ends meet. The Swiss are also budgeting for large sums for security and plan to create a "Eurovision boulevard" in the center of the city for all the fans expected to travel to Basel from around the world. Something that would then not be possible.
Difficult to move
All other political parties in Basel support the plans for the Eurovision Song Contest, so most experts believe it will be a yes. But public opinion is hard to gauge and EDU collected more than twice as many signatures as required to request a referendum, according to the Basler Zeitung newspaper.
Edi Estermann does not want to anticipate events, but says that the organizers will have to take a stand on how to proceed if it's a no.
It would be possible to move the competition to another city, according to the agreement with the EBU, but that would require very careful consideration since so much preparation has already been done in Basel. And there are only 178 days left until the final of the Eurovision Song Contest on May 17.
The European Broadcasting Union EBU, which decides on the Eurovision Song Contest, says in a written comment to TT that it does not want to comment on the referendum since it is a "local issue" for the organizers.
This will be the third time Switzerland hosts the Eurovision Song Contest. The St. Jakobshalle in Basel, with a capacity for 12,000, will host the competition.
The semifinals are scheduled for May 13 and 15, with the final two days later.
