EL MUNDO (Spain)
MADRID – Has the European economic crisis managed to sully the Eurovision Song Contest? The 2012 edition of the competition, which takes place Saturday in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, includes competitors from an array of debt-ridden countries. This is a European song contest, after all.
But reports say that contestant Pastora Soler from debt-ridden Spain has actually been told it is better not to win. The reason? In case of victory, her native country would be obliged to organize next year’s contest: an expenditure that Spain cannot afford, El Mundo reports.
It was state-owned Spanish Radio and Television Corporation (RTVE) that reportedly urged Pastora Soler not to give it her all. “They told me: ‘please, don’t win! We first need to beat the crisis’,” the candidate explained.
Though she admitted the comment was said with a humorous tone, Soler said some people at the company are actually worried about such a scenario.
Following the controversy her statement created, Soler nevertheless went back on her word, probably because RTVE asked her to: “Nobody in RTVE told me such a thing. […] Carlos Mochales, RTVE program director, told me that I had more chances than anybody to win the Eurovision,” El Mundo reported. But this statement sounds hollow and the harm is done: if the Spanish candidate sings out of the tune Saturday, we will know why!
Read the original article in Spanish
