Can Eurovision play a role in diplomacy?

Within the framework of the EU Delegation’s Europe Day celebrations, Ambassador Pedro Serrano travelled to Liverpool, the city that is hosting the Eurovision Song Contest this year on behalf of Ukraine, to convene a panel discussion on “Eurovision as a tool of diplomacy” at Tate Liverpool.

In a packed room, a stellar panel explored the diplomatic power of the renowned song contest and its role in portraying many of the founding values of the European Union. The panellists included Claudette Buttigieg, Maltese MP and Eurovision contestant in Stockholm in 2000, Jean Philip De Tender, Director of Media at the European Broadcasting Union, Sarah Sands, Acting Chair of The British Council and former BBC, Sunday Telegraph and Evening Standard editor, as well as Alevtina Kakhidze, a multidisciplinary artist from Ukraine. The discussion was moderated by Dr Dean Vuletic, a Eurovision scholar and author of “Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest” (2018). The Ambassador, in his opening remarks, reminded the audience of the significance of Eurovision in particular for Spain when it won in 1968, allowing so many families across the country, still under a dictatorship at the time, to feel part of the  European democratic family, offering hope for a better future.

The venue for the discussion, Tate Museum Liverpool, is situated within the historic Prince Albert docks, and serves as a potent reminder of the cultural, historic and people-to-people bonds that unite the EU and the UK. Furthermore the event – held within the margins of this year’s unique co-hosted contest -  offered the opportunity to showcase EU-UK  joint solidarity towards Ukraine and condemn once again Russia’s brutal war of aggression.

After the panel discussion, the Ambassador went to meet the team of the EU-British Council programme for youth: “Stronger together”. A two-year project implemented in co-operation with the European Movement International and co-funded by the European Union that offers young people aged 15–30 from the EU and the UK opportunities to connect and collaborate.



For more on the Eurovision, its relationship with European ideals and the UK be sure to tune in to the Delegation's podcast - London Calling EU for our Eurovision Special