Dnipro’s main competitive advantages in the battle for the right to host Eurovision 2017 are a crucial role of the city in creation of modern Ukrainian history and its willingness to allocate substantial sum of money from the city budget in order to prepare the infrastructure for the contest. The Mayor Borys Filatov said it in the project “Battle of the Cities” for Eurovision 2017 on the air of UΛ: Pershiy.
According to the Mayor, now Dnipro is central to formation of a new political nation in the state. He is sure: in the context of true decentralization, the right to host a song contest should be given to the regions. “We are a Russian-speaking city phenomenon that has stopped the so called “Russian spring”. It is very symbolic to show Europe and the whole world, using the example of Dnipro, that Ukraine is a country that looks to the future, and not to the past,” said Borys Filatov.
The Mayor has reminded that Dnipro is the only city that is ready to allocate 500 million hryvnias for preparing the infrastructure for the contest, and this means actual co-financing with the state budget. This year, the city also made a record, having allocated 650 million hryvnias for road repair.
Borys Filatov has stressed that currently only Dnipro and Kyiv are able to hold Eurovision in a roofed pavilion. A sports palace “Meteor” in Dnipro, situated in the city centre, may be used as the venue for DniproEuroArena.
The Mayor of Dnipro has also stressed that security in the city is at the highest level: during the last two years of disturbances in the whole country, there was no big incident. Borys Filatov has added that the representatives of the city patrol police can easily master the basic skills of English. As Dnipro is also a city of students and volunteers who are willing to help. Totally, according to the Mayor, 50 million hryvnias may be invested in safety.
Dnipro’s application for Eurovision 2017 is available here.
