History

The EU Contest is the successor to the Philips contest, which ran from 1968-88 and brought together the winners from National Contests. The then President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors, was approached in 1987 about the European Commission taking on the running of the Contest. After consulting with the competent bodies and Committees, the Commission decided to support the Contest.

The 1st EU Contest Finals took place in Brussels in 1989. Since then, the event has been hosted in Copenhagen, Zürich, Seville, Berlin, Luxembourg, Newcastle upon Tyne, Helsinki, Milan, Porto, Thessaloniki, Amsterdam, Bergen, Vienna, Budapest, Dublin, Moscow, Stockholm and the 19th EU Contest will take place in Valencia, Spain.