The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has published a list of countries participating in Eurovision-2022. The song contest is to take place in May in Turin, Italy. Belarus is not named among 41 would-be contestants.
Apparently, Belarus is going to let slip the second European song contest in a row. In March 2021, the EBU disqualified the Belarusian side from participating, because the Belarusian TV and Radio Company (BTRC) twice submitted the songs having pro-government political connotations. After studying applications from the pro-Lukashenka group Halasy ZMesta (Voices from Town), the organisers came to the conclusion that they violated the rules of the contest.
The YouTube channel of the above mentioned band is decorated with the red and green colours of the national flag. In 2020, Halasy ZMesta gained notoriety for their songs which made fun of the Belarusian protesters and opposition politicians. In particular, the song submitted to the Eurovision contest contained the words ‘I will teach you to jig to the tune’, ‘I will teach you to toe the line.’
As reported earlier, Belarus is not eligible to take part in the upcoming Junior Eurovision Song Contest in December 2021, since it is not an active member of the EBU.
Under the pressure of world public opinion, the Executive Board of the European Broadcasting Union officially suspended the BTRC membership in the union in late June. According to the EBU, it has been closely monitoring the suppression of media freedom in Belarus and have consistently called on the BTRC to uphold our core values of freedom of expression, independence and accountability. The press service said they were ‘particularly alarmed by the broadcast of interviews apparently obtained under duress’.
The European Broadcasting Union is the world’s leading alliance of public service media (PSM). They have 115 member organisations in 56 countries and have an additional 31 associates in Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas. Its members operate nearly 2,000 television, radio and online channels and services; they have an opportunity to exchange their video materials. Since July 1, the BTRC has not had access to EBU services, which means that the state-run Belarusian company lost the right to broadcast certain music and sports events.
