DR outlines the new and updated flag policy in place for Eurovision 2025.
The Danish broadcaster have reported on the flag policy that will be in place for Eurovision 2025 in Basel. Despite Switzerland placing a high value on freedom of expression, DR report that the new flag policy have said that “political messages should be avoided.” Thus, all fans attending the shows will be allowed to bring any flags into St Jakobshalle, so long as they do not violate Swiss law.
Flags that will not be allowed by anyone include: flags with racist and/or discriminatory symbols and text that could incite hatred and/or violence; flags that could be considered offensive or defamatory, and flags with symbols of terrorist organisations.
Despite all these rules and regualtions surrounding flags, it seems the rules are more relaxed for fans than they are for participants. Fans are free to bring pride flags and flags of non-competing nations, among others, whilst the participants are not.
Speaking of participants, DR report that the flag policy for all the competing 37 artists will be stricter than it is for fans. The policy states that the artists can only have their country’s official flag during the show. They will not be allowed to bring in pride flags, non-binary flags or any other similar flags. DR have also reported that statements of solidarity (with flags) are now prohibited for all participants.
Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR will provide one flag to each participant for them to use during the flag parade that will take place at the beginning of each live show. No other flags will be allowed. Failure to comply with these rules will have serious consequences, as DR report.
The broadcaster states that anyone, fans or artists, who violate the flag policy may be denied entry into St Jakobshalle, or may be removed from the show and have their flag/s confiscated. For participants, “additional consequences may also be incurred”, as DR report.
Although the EBU has not specified what the specific consequences would be for the participants, they have provided a written response: “Although there are sanctions for breaches of the competition rules, we expect all delegations to approach the flag policy in good faith and understand that it is designed to create clarity and balance when it comes to expressing national and other identities.”
The EBU goes on to say that they want to “strike a balance that ensures that the audience and participants can express their enthusiasm and identity, but at the same time create more clarity for the delegations when it comes to official events.”
Last year, we saw Eurovision 2024 winner, Nemo, who identifies as non-binary, bring out the non-binary flag during the flag parade in the grand final. Nemo said that they had to smuggle their non-binary flag onto the Eurovision stage last year. We also saw Italy’s Marco Mengoni with the pride flag during the Eurovision 2023 flag parade, something which will not be allowed this year.
What are your thoughts on the updated flag policy for Eurovision 2025? Do you agree or disagree with the policy? Let us know your thoughts on this in the comments below!
