Eurovision 2017: Kiev and Odessa battle to the end.
After postponing for the 4th time the announcement of the hosting city of Eurovision 2017 and having the city of Dnipro declared out of the race by the general director of the national broadcaster, Zurab Alasania, the battleground is left with two cities: the experienced Kiev and the ambitious Odessa.
As the final decision has been postponed for September, according to official sources, among them the Deputy Prime Minister, Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, the two sides are gathering all their cards on the table to support as strongly as they can their city’s nomination as next host of the Eurovision 2017.
In this peculiar battle of impressions and communication surely the means often used by both sides do not honor Ukraine’s political civilization. This negative factor was outlined today in the common press conference that was held by the Marshal and the Mayor of Odessa. Mikheil Saakashvili and Gennadiy Trukhanov during their rare common public appearance, since they belong to opposite political parties, declared their strong objection to all the vile propaganda coming from factors that want to undermine Odessa’s chance to be nominated as host city of the next Eurovision Song contest and favor Kiev’s win.
With a lot of emotional references, the two local political rulers determined their intention to join forces, so as to gain for Odessa what the city was deprived of during the latest two events of Euro 2012 and Eurobasket 2015 ( no matches were held in the city). The two executives claimed that Odessa’s proposal is much more sufficient than Kiev’s one and all the allegations about problems that have to do with the city’s transportation, the airport and the safety are totally false.
The two men referred to Chernomorets stadium superiority from technical and acoustic point of view and sufficient auxiliary installations ( press center, backstage etc) over Kiev’s International Exhibition Center. Furthermore the two local rulers rejected allegations that try to create a false picture of the city not having enough time to complete the roof top of the stadium, by saying that already the necessary talks have been made by the officials with experienced Swiss and German companies to pull through the work on time.
The two administrative officials continued there conference elaborating on Odessa’s fine economical circumstances, giving publicity to documents and calculations that were sent to the national broadcaster (NTU) and EBU, proving the budget sufficiency for organizing efficiently a safe and successful Eurovision Song contest. In their closing they made a point on Odessa’s exclusion from the previous events taken place in the country ( Euro 2012 and Eurobasket 2015) and that this time the city shouldn’t be again treated unfairly since all of its citizens are committed in contributing in having a successful contest.
One can easily understand the economical, touristic benefits the hosting city has from such an event that justifies the hard battle between the two cities. Stay tuned on the Infe network and it s regional clubs to see the next host city of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest.
