They feared that the party would be less beautiful. Voters in the Swiss city of Basel overwhelmingly approved on Sunday, November 24, the financing of almost 40 million euros for the celebration of the annual Eurovision television program in their city, which therefore promises, for its 2025 edition, take place with all its usual pomp.
Provisional voting results show that 66.4% of voters in this northern Swiss city are in favor of using 34.96 million Swiss francs (37.4 million euros) of taxpayers’ money to organize the show. Without funding from the host city, the television event, which attracts a huge global audience, would have been significantly cut short.
Switzerland won Eurovision 2024 in Sweden with the victory of non-binary artist Nemo and will host the 2025 edition in May in this city on the Rhine, on the border between France and Germany. The authorities expect immediate benefits of 60 million francs.
“Waste”
But the Federal Democratic Union (UDF), a small party that defends “eternal Christian values”, launched a referendum to denounce a “true waste” of public money. The party, described as ultra-conservative by the Swiss press, had also put forward moral and security arguments.
In case of rejection of the city’s contribution, the event scheduled for about ten days would have been reduced “to a great television show on Saturday night”, without the organization of public events outside the main stage, warned the head of communications. of Eurovision. 2025, Edi Estermann, according to AFP.
“We are a city of art, of fine arts, but also of music. This is always very important for our city,” said Andrea Strahm, a lawyer and member of the Basel Parliament, interviewed by AFP.
Infrastructure
Voters across Switzerland must also decide whether to approve the widening of the country’s roads as well as the powers given to property owners, and early results show the vote is expected to be close.
The Government and Parliament aim to eliminate traffic jams on six stretches of motorway, and traffic on national roads has more than doubled since 1990.
An alliance of about 50 organizations, supported by left-wing and environmental parties, launched a referendum against these projects, considered too expensive and which, according to them, generate even more traffic. The government has promised measures to compensate for damage to nature, such as reforestation of forests or the creation of ponds for amphibians.
The costs of the projects (expansion of motorway sections, construction of the “Rhine tunnel” in Basel and new tunnels in Schaffhausen and St. Gallen) are estimated at 4.9 billion Swiss francs (5.26 billion euros ).
“We will not be able to invest all these billions in other solutions, in other more ecological and also more efficient means of transport,” said Angela Zimmermann, campaign director of the active traffic association.
Regulate rents
The Swiss (nearly 60% of whom are renters) are also voting on two separate proposals aimed at giving landlords more flexibility to break a lease and limit subletting. The new rules decreed by Parliament aim to prevent abuses in subletting, common in Switzerland. The outcome of the vote seems uncertain, as the polls are divided.
On the other hand, they show a rejection of the regulations that authorize landlords to terminate tenants’ leases for personal purposes, even if this need is not urgent. An important tenants’ association (Asloca) has launched a double referendum against these “direct attacks on the few tenant protection mechanisms in rental legislation.”
Asloca “firmly opposes this attack by the real estate lobby aimed at scaring away tenants to rent more expensively. By facilitating the termination of the contract, rents will skyrocket, since with each change of tenant, the landlord can increase the rent,” argument.
Source: BFM TV
