Minister of Culture: “Decision on host city may be further delayed”

There is a chance that the decision on the host city for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 will not yet be made public on Monday the 1st of August. The Minister of Culture in Ukraine, mister Yevhen Nyshchuk, says that the decision “may be delayed with a week or two.”

The minister spoke about the inspections of Kiev, Dnipro and Odessa on Monday and Tuesday, together with the EBU. He had some concerns, “because currently, we have no venue in Ukraine that is ready to host the contest.”

The decision was planned to be taken by the NTU and EBU on Monday the 1st of August, but could well turn out to be taken even later. “We have a lot of financial and technical proposals to look at, and this requires more time,” Nyshchuk says in a special episode of the ‘City Battle’ on national television.

This also increases the chance that the contest will be rescheduled for the final week of May. The proposed dates thus far have been a problem for either Ukraine, due to the Day of Remembrance for the victims of the Crimean Tatar genocide on the 18th of May, or the EBU, due to the clash of the semi-finals with the Champions League and Europa League semi-finals. Rescheduling the contest for the last week of May will give the Ukrainians more time to prepare, and makes sure the contest does not clash with some major international sports events.

On the three remaining host cities, the Minister of Culture said that there are some problems that need to be considered before deciding who will host the contest. “Kiev is most ready, but there are problems with the venue. We need to further analyse the renovation plans. The travel distance, state of the airport and infrastructure is a problem for Dnipro. And we still have many questions concerning the proposal to cover the stadium with a tent in Odessa.”

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