Zurich Cantonal Council approves contribution for ESC only with dissenting voices

The Cantonal Council approved the contribution for Zurich's ESC bid by 105 votes to 62 with one abstention. Criticism in the cantonal council was directed against both the event itself and the fact that the canton's contribution was to be taken from the charitable fund.

The SVP doubted that the ESC was a charitable event at all and therefore rejected the contribution. "It is simply not compatible with the conditions that apply to contributions from the charitable fund," said Elisabeth Pflugshaupt (SVP, Gossau).

In fact, the conditions exclude contributions to "performances, other productions, competitions and award ceremonies", among other things. At the same time, however, there is an exception clause.

The SP also only agreed "grudgingly", as Hannah Pfalzgraf (SP, Zurich) said. This was actually an economic promotion measure that belonged in the regular budget.

In some cases, the event itself was also cited as a reason for rejecting the contribution. Various speakers criticized the ESC for being instrumentalized or misused for political purposes. "In the context of the ESC, hatred of Jews has become socially acceptable," said Hans Egli (EDU, Steinmaur), referring to the protests in Malmö, Sweden, against Israel's participation in this year's event.

At its meeting last week, Zurich City Council approved a framework credit of CHF 20 million for the Eurovision Song Contest. The contribution was also controversial there.