Innsbruck strives for the ESC 2026: excitement in the local council!

Innsbruck strives for the ESC 2026: excitement in the local council!

The Innsbruck municipal council decided in a meeting on Thursday to submit an application for the issue of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2026. The decision was made with 22 votes from the ranks of the government factions "Yes - now Innsbruck", Greens and SPÖ as well as 18 votes from opposition parties such as the FPÖ, "Das Neue Innsbruck", KPÖ, list Fritz and Ali. The session took place due to a confidentiality clause with the ORF to the exclusion of the public.

The mayor of Innsbruck, Johannes Anzengruber, emphasized that the financing for the event is planned together with the areas of economy and tourism, whereby their proportion is expected to be higher than that of the city itself. The opposition parties, on the other hand, were extremely sharp criticism of this financial planning and demanded a transparent financial concept. The FPÖ described the proposal as "financial disaster", while "the new Innsbruck" and the list Fritz called for a withdrawal of the application. Concrete budgets were not published on the basis of the agreement on the confidentiality, but around EUR 17 million was reported by an estimate of over 19.47 million euros and budget -effective.

interest in the discontinuation

Innsbruck is not the only city that shows interest in the execution of the ESC. Vienna has also considered the Olympic Hall as a potential venue. A decision about which city is awarded the contract for the issuing of the competition is expected in early August 2025. This application falls into a long tradition of the ESC, which has been taking place in Lugano, Switzerland since its first edition in 1956.

The Eurovision Song Contest, which is organized annually by the European Radio Union (EBU), reaches over 180 million viewers worldwide. The participant countries, which are EBU members, award points in two phases-first the artists present their contributions, followed by the awarding of the points. The competition is known for its creative diversity and has produced many known artists over the years.

The story of the ESC is also remarkable; The idea comes from Marcel Bezençon, who proposed the event in 1955. The competition has developed significantly since its foundation, including the introduction of semi -finals, from which the best participants are qualified for the final.

The competition has also received special attention from the LGBT community in the past and is often used as a platform for artists who address relevant social issues. The ESC is very popular, which is also reflected in the high number of spectators that have been documented since 2013.

for Innsbruck, the application for the ESC 2026 is a significant opportunity to achieve international attention and to present the city in connection with one of the most famous music competitions in the world. It remains exciting how the situation will develop and whether the city actually gets the contract.

Further information about the event and the applications are on the websites of OE24 href = "https://tirol.orf.at/stories/3312239/" orf tirol as well as wikipedia to be found.