The Vice-President of the ALDE group in the European Parliament, Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, sent a letter to the Commissioner for Culture, Tibor Navracsics, informing the member of the European government that the official flag of the Basque Autonomous Community was included in a list of banned flags in the internal rules of the Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in Sweden this year. Bilbao asked the Commissioner to explain what an Ikurriña is to the organisers of the festival and encourage them to lift this boycott that she considers inappropriate, considering the democratic history of that country, anti-European and an insult to Basque citizens. Copies of this letter were also sent to the ambassador of the Permanent Representation of Sweden to the EU and the 20 Swedish MEPS.