Emmelie de Forest named "European of the Year"

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Chancellor Angela Merkel, José Manuel Barosso and... Emmelie de Forest.

At first glance, you would not necessarily think that the winner of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest, Denmark’s Emmelie de Forest, would fit into the above sentence, but she does!

Now, just like these three powerful politicians, Emmelie can now boast being ”European of the Year”.

European of the Year

2001 – Uffe Østergaard, 2002 – Holger K. Nielsen, 2003 – Anders Fogh Rasmussen, 2004 – Dorte Schmidt-Brown, 2005 – Mikhail Marnich, 2006 – Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, 2007 – Joschka Fischer, 2008 – Mariann Fischer Boel, 2009 – José Manuel Barroso, 2010 – Chancellor Angela Merkel, 2011 – Prince Henrik, 2012 – Günter Grass

Emmelie brings Europe together

The title was awarded to the singer by the Danish European Movement, who has handed out the price for the best part of ten years to those Europeans that have contributed the most to European development and cooperation across Europe.

”This year we think it was important to send a signal that the EU is not just politics but also culture and music. That’s where the Eurovision Song Contest is fantastic! It brings Europeans together and Emmelie’s victory shows that little Denmark can also both bring together and contribute in another aspect aside from politically”, says deputy leader of the Danish European Movement, Jens Bo Andersen.

He is also the EU boss at Dansk Metal and believes that Emmelie de Forest’s ability to get all of Europe to love one song is on a par with good EU-politics.

The Danish European Movement

The Danish European Movement is a bipartisan, national society that works for a closer cooperation between European states.

The society has approximately 1,500 members and originates from the Europa Movement.

Another core area is human rights and diversity.

The first Eurovision recipient ever

It is the first time in the prize’s history that it has been awarded to a winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, and for Emmelie de Forest it is a huge honour.

”I am so happy, proud and honoured. Some formidable people have previously won the prize so it means a lot to me. The Eurovision Song Contest embraces all of Europe and even though it is a competition, you can see that it gathers Europeans for a party”, says the singer.

As such, she agrees with Jens Bo Anders and is happy that the Danish European Movement now also places focus on music and culture.  

Touring in March

Emmelie de Forest has, in addition to her victory at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest, also been awarded the fan club’s ”Mylle Prize” this year. ”European of the Year” is therefore the third title the singer can boast about in 2013.

However, in addition to winning prizes, the singer has a lot to look forward to. She has travelled all over Europe since May, released an album and is currently writing another.

”As it looks now, the whole of March will be spent touring around Denmark. It’s going to be fantastic and I have already started rehearsing with the band! During the winter I am going to the USA to write new songs, which I hope I can release next summer and that I can preview in the spring”, reveals Emmelie.