  Amsterdam says won't host Eurovision 2020 July 5, 2019 - 15:52 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Mayor of Amsterdam Femke Halsema announced Thursday, July 4 that the Dutch capital will not make a bid to organize the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest next year, ESCToday reports. The Municipality of Amsterdam has not been able to find a suitable location to hold Europe’s favourite television show as all three potential venues in the city are fully booked during the Eurovision period. Initially Amsterdam was relying to host the event at the Ziggo Dome, but the venue is fully booked and it could not relocate or cancel all the booked events in order accomodate the Eurovision Song Contest. The Eurovision venue has to be available and free for organization for at least 8 weeks. The Ziggo Dome did its level best to make this possible but there were many hurdles to overcome as its agenda was quite busy during the Eurovision period. The Mayor of Amsterdam Ms. Femke Halsema wrote to the City Council of Amsterdam: The main reason for Amsterdam’s withdrawal seems to be a message from the Ziggo Dome stating that the venue will not be available in the relevant period next year due to bookings and reservations that cannot be canceled. The RAI Amsterdam and the Johan Cruyff Arena are also not available and the AFAS Live Music Room would not be large enough to host the event. Amsterdam wishes Rotterdam, Utrecht, Den Bosch, Arnhem and Maastricht every success in the preparation of their bidbook. The Municipality of Amsterdam has tried to set up an alternative location to host the Eurovision Song Contest, which would house the competition in an original outdoor festival location set up in tents in the Lowlands, Ms. Halsema goes on to state: After working out this concept, the whole project appears to be too complex and with too many uncertainties to ultimately offer a fully-fledged alternative to the Ziggo Dome. This leaves Rotterdam, Utrecht, Den Bosch and Arnhem and Maastricht / Limburg in the host city battle. The Hague, Leeuwarden and Breda have all dropped out of the host city bidding race.   Top stories The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. The festival made the news public on March 19, saying that “several options are considered in order to preserve its running”   Partner news |  Latest news Protesters rally as Georgia debates 'foreign agent' bill  Georgian critics label the bill "the Russian law", comparing it to legislation used by the Kremlin to crack down on dissent.Former Pashinyan envoy urges end to Genocide speculation Marukyan has urged authorities in Armenia stop discussions about verifying the names of 1.5 million victims.Azerbaijan, Jordan sign deal on defense cooperation Azerbaijan and Jordan have signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of defense, according to an official statement.First Canadian expert join EU mission in Armenia The first Canadian expert to join the European Union’s civilian mission in Armenia has arrived in Armenia. |
