Montenegro: Confirmed, RTCG will not take part in 2023

The deadline for participation at the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest has already passed, meaning that at the current moment, only the EBU know for certain, who they can expect to see in Liverpool next year. Unfortunately, this also means, that broadcasters that haven’t yet publicly announced their participation, are speculated to have considered withdrawal from the contest, and today that is indeed the case.

Montenegro out… for now?

At the current moment, most countries that participated in Turin earlier this year, has already confirmed their intention to participate. Unfortunately, Montenegro has now confirmed that they won’t. After a short return to Turin, the country located next to the Adriatic sea, must see once again watch from the sideline, it doesn’t help either that Montenegro ended up being one of the six countries, which had their jury results completely removed during this year’s show.

The national broadcaster of Montenegro (RTCG) has even commented on the reason for the withdrawal (translated as follow):

• After reviewing the available resources, the costs of the entire project and the obligations that the Public Service expects in the coming period, the decision was made that Montenegro will not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest next year.
  
  The 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Liverpool, Great Britain.
  The decision was made because it was estimated that existing resources should be directed towards financing current and planned national projects and organizational and program reforms.
  “In addition to the significant costs of registration fees, as well as the cost of staying in Great Britain – we also faced a lack of interest from sponsors, so we decided to direct existing resources to the financing of current and planned national projects and organizational and program reforms, which entail significant investment projects in equipment and premises”, said the Public Service.

Notable, it is stated that a lack of interest from sponsors is stated as a reasoning behind the decision. Whether this is something that was affected from this year’s voting scandal, is however not known. It probably doesn’t help either, that Montenegro once again failed to qualify to the final earlier this year, the country’s last presence in the final, dates by now all the way back to 2015.

Montenegro was represented this year by Vladana and her song “Breathe“. As mentioned already, she didn’t manage to qualify for the final, and was only able to score a total of 33 points, finishing second last in her semi-final. Hopefully, Montenegro can return in the near future and once again impress Europe.

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Source(s): RTCG.me (In Montenegrin)