Back to back and three times out of four. That’s the stellar track record of wins that France has written at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. After Zoé Clauzure took the trophy from her predecessor Lissandro on Sunday, JESC fans are now asking one big question: Will France host Junior Eurovision 2024?
With its two previous victories, the French delegation was quick to express its interest in hosting the contest in France. But this time France Télévisions made it known through its director of programs, Stephane Sitbon-Gomez, that it’s giving itself time to reflect before deciding whether to accept or decline the opportunity to organize JESC 2024.
“As far as Junior Eurovision is concerned, we will first celebrate the victory,” he said. “Then we will discuss, as we have done every time, with the EBU to find out where it would be best. There are many countries that want to host it and we don’t want there to be a French monopoly on Junior Eurovision.”
As a reminder, Poland hosted the contest twice in a row in 2018 and 2019 after two consecutive victories. However, unlike Eurovision, Junior Eurovision rules do not require the winner to host the contest the following year.
A possible setback with the Olympic Games
In 2024, France will host another major event, the Olympic Games. Public broadcaster France Télévisions is the main partner of this event, mobilizing most of its departments for the task. Also, many French cities are already focused on organizing the sporting event, which could make it difficult to meet the various deadlines required to hold the contest at the end of the year.
As things stand, France Télévisions stresses that it has not yet made a final decision:
“We take time to discuss and think together. Today, we are especially happy and proud of what we have been able to experience.”
Who will organize Junior Eurovision if France declines?
If France were to decline to host the next JESC, it wouldn’t be unprecedented.
You’ll remember that Italy’s broadcaster declined the opportunity to host the contest in 2015, after Vincenzo Cantiello’s victory in 2014. The EBU then opened the bidding process to any country wishing to host. In the end, Bulgaria won the bid. Their act finished second to Italy at the previous contest.
So a number of countries could show their interest in hosting JESC next year, not least those from the Big 5, who, for the first time, all competed in the same time in Nice. Spain, who came second on the podium, could be a potential host, as could the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, who were all among the favourites. Armenia, too, has recently hosted the competition in 2022, making it an experienced organizer.
Finally, when Zoé was asked which city she would like to see the competition held in, the young winner replied without hesitation: New York!
What an original proposal!
Source : 20 minutes
Would you like to see France host the competition for a third time? If not, where would you like to see the competition held?
