The credit for today’s united Europe should go, above all, to the Eurovision Song Contest. Just a decade after World War II, it brought the people of that continent together to celebrate their belief in love, hope and appalling pop songs.
French and German alike put aside their differences on that historic first Eurovision night in 1956.
When they voted for the Swiss entrant, Refrain, ahead of the morbid Belgian runner-up, The Drowned People of the River Seine, they were really voting for a brighter future. And once the power of music had joined the people of Europe, today’s all-encompassing European Union was but a small step away. Continue Reading →