Can Eurovision Survive Its Biggest Crisis?

The Eurovision Song Contest is facing its biggest crisis as Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, and Slovenia withdraw over Israel’s participation, exposing deep divisions within the contest.

sarah

Dec 5, 2025 - 22:34

Can Eurovision Survive Its Biggest Crisis?

Thursday saw the biggest crisis in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest.Four countries withdrew from the competition due to Israel's continued participation, and more may follow.

The boycott includes Ireland, a seven-time winner – only Sweden is in this competition – and five-time winner the Netherlands.

Spain and Slovenia, two of the contest's biggest financial supporters, are also out.

This dispute highlights a deep rift within the Eurovision family. And it's a situation that has persisted for years, amid growing tensions over Israel's behavior during the war in Gaza.

There are also concerns about the voting and campaigning process after Israel topped the public vote this year – coming in second overall after jury votes were taken into account.

Meanwhile, Israel hailed its decision to remain in the contest as a "victory" over critics who had tried to silence it and spread hatred.

"We debated, and we listened."

Fragments within the Eurovision family were revealed at a meeting with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) on Thursday.

There was no direct vote on Israel's place in Eurovision, but the country's participation was linked to a ballot among broadcasters regarding new rules for campaigning and public voting.

Sixty-five percent of EBU members voted in favor of that change. Ten percent abstained.

Roland Weissmann, director general of public broadcaster ORF in next year's host country, Austria, said there was heated debate, but it was a fair process.

"We debated, and we listened to others, and then we held a secret vote." "That's democracy, and the majority voted for new, stronger rules for the Song Contest."

The result also meant that Israel was allowed to compete—but it led to others withdrawing.

According to Spain, the crisis could have been avoided. The president of broadcaster RTVE said in an angry social media post before Thursday's summit, "It should never have reached this point."

Jose Pablo Lopez said he had lost confidence in Eurovision's organizers, saying they were swayed by "political and commercial advantages."

He further said that organizers should have addressed Israel's alleged manipulation of the public vote, which should have resulted in a ban "at the executive level," rather than asking EBU members to decide on any outcome.

Israel has denied attempting to influence voting in the contest and said its publicity campaigns were permitted under Eurovision rules.

Will more countries boycott?

Other countries that may join the boycott include Iceland, which said it will not confirm its participation until its board meeting next week.

On Friday, Belgium and Sweden, who had been considering their positions, confirmed they would remain in the contest.

Finland stated that its attendance was conditional on Eurovision securing a "large number" of other participants, adding: "The costs for participating organizations should not increase too much."

Eurovision author and academic Dean Vuletic told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday: "The next few weeks will be tense as countries confirm whether they will participate in Eurovision next year.

"But I think we'll see more boycotts."

The deadline for countries to submit their entries is Wednesday, December 10.

The Free Speech Factor

Amidst all this drama, there's a small detail in the EBU's press release that sheds light on why many countries wanted to keep Israel's broadcaster, Kan, in the contest.

It states that during a "large discussion," fellow broadcasters took the opportunity to "emphasize the importance of protecting the independence of public service media and the freedom of press reporting, especially in conflict zones like Gaza."

This is because Kan is independent of the Israeli government and has often found itself at odds with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration.

ORF's Mr. Weissman "Public broadcasters participate, not countries," he said. "It's not the Israeli government, it's the public broadcaster."

It's believed that Kan's association with Eurovision has protected it from threats of closure or cuts – as the government recognizes the positive PR power of participating in the contest.

If Israel had been eliminated on Thursday, the country's access to a free press could have been jeopardized in the future.

Small budget

The impact on funding will be a key question for organizers. Spain was one of the "big five" countries that automatically qualify for the final due to the size of their financial contribution to the contest.

According to figures released by Spain's broadcaster, RTVE, this figure has ranged between €334,000 and €348,000 in recent years.

Other countries will now have to pick up that bill – although the costs will presumably be shared between all competitors, with France, Germany, Italy and the UK taking the lion's share.

And if other countries pull out, the cost for every competing nation will presumably rise.

"To lose some of your biggest financial contributors does have a huge impact, and it also has a ripple-down effect for some of the smaller countries," according to Jess Carniel of the University of Southern Queensland, a Eurovision scholar.

"So it does probably mean that we might have a smaller show [in 2026], unless the Austrian broadcaster can get together a bit more cash to make sure that it's still a spectacle."

Severely wounded

That all means the competition is severely wounded, but the injuries aren't fatal... yet.

Thursday was "a very seismic day in Eurovision" history, according to Callum Rowe from The Euro Trip podcast.

"We're losing countries that have got an illustrious and storied history in the competition."

The four boycotting countries won't change their minds before next May's contest in Vienna, Mr Rowe said.

"Whether they'll have a change of heart for 2027 is another question. If they see that Israel don't perform very well in Eurovision in 2026 they might think, oh, well, the rule changes have done what they were meant to do. But I think it's difficult to say at this point."

Eurovision director Martin Green estimates that 35 nations will still take part next year in Vienna.

The loss of four competitors is balanced by the return of three others – Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria – who have skipped the last couple of years.

Not 'united by music'

The row will cast a long shadow of the contest next year, and probably in future years too.

With much of the music industry throwing its weight behind Palestinian causes, it may prove harder than normal to find artists willing to share the stage with Israel.

The contest hasn't lived up to its slogan - "United by music".

But Mr Weissmann insisted he didn't think the boycott would be damaging for Eurovision as it approaches its 70th anniversary in 2026.

"It was built 10 years after World War Two - united by music - and that's what is all about.

"It's a difficult situation all over the world with crisis [and] wars, and now it's our duty to keep in contact, to listen to each other, to argue - but then find democratic ways to deal with it."