- 'European way of life' commissioner and baritone Margaritis Schinas (Photo: ec.europa.eu)
EU institutions, on Thursday (1 April), unveiled a first-ever and immediately controversial entry into the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, in May.
The song, called 'The EU is Alive', is a pop-homage to a hit from the 1965 musical The Sound of Music.
EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in rehearsals (Photo: ec.europa.eu)
It is being added to a line-up of 39 national semi-finalists for the first time in the event's 65-year history to boost European morale in the third wave of the pandemic.
"In a period of anxiety, for me, it is clear - the EU needs to show citizens we care about more than just vaccines, more than just getting by," European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.
"We need to rock the European Union", she said.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), a Swiss-based association which organises the event, noted that its board had "carefully scrutinised the EU entry".
And "the new submission was found not to breach rules on the integrity and dignity of the contest," it said.
'Eurovision' also has other unorthodox entries from as far afield as Israel and Australia, under complex guidelines. EU Obs.
