A decision has finally been made, after the EBU revealed the full list of participants for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, which is set to be held in Malmö, Sweden. The list featured a total of 37 countries, and Romania wasn’t one of them, but the country was granted extended time to reach a conclusion, and today we can finally say that Romania will not compete in the 2024 edition.
Withdrawal of Romania
The full list of participants was revealed in the beginning of December last year, but here almost 2 months later, the Romanian national broadcaster (TVR) decided not to participate in the end. Representatives of the broadcaster gathered today, in order to vote whether the country should be present or not, and interestingly enough, most votes were for participation, but still not the majority.
The result of the votes came as follow:
- 5 votes for participation
- 4 votes against participation
- 4 votes withheld
With that, Romania will in the end sit out the contest, later this year. Reasons for not participating include the lack of funds, as well as the desire to have Romania competing at a representative level.
Funds will instead be used on the transmission of the Olympic games from Paris later this year, the continuation of a restructure process, automatization of TVR’s channels, investment in news production, investments in the TVR Craiova office and other delayed projects.
This is the first time since Romania’s debut in the contest, all the way back in 1994, that TVR themselves have decided to not participate. Romania did miss various contests back in the 90’s due to the relegation rules at the time, as well in 2001. Since 2002, that country has taken part in the contest every single year, with the exception of 2016, where the country was disqualified, after having picked a representative.
Whether TVR will invest in their 2025 participation, remains to be seen.
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Source(s): TVR.ro (In Romanian)
