The vote on Israel’s participation in November has been cancelled, and there apparently won’t be a vote at the regular meeting in December either.
Frankly, was gonna come here yesterday and asked whether it would go ahead in light of recent developments.
The EBU was on the same wavelength as me.
Let’s just go all-in the other direction and welcome Israel back with open arms, because… why not?
The wild voting block and irregularities that are distorting the competition?
Sure, kick them out on that premise. I support that cause.
Not the political cause that was supposed to be central to the upcoming vote. It’s basically a coin flip between alienating five countries, or one/two of EBU’s biggest financial backers.
It’d have been a nightmare.
The Netherlands have said they are pulling out if Israel is there regardless of a peace deal being reached due to the voting irregularities as well as the killing of journalists. So the EBU is definitely losing them for next year, we will see if others like Spain/Ireland/Slovenia will follow.
Romania is returning to Eurovision in 2026. They last competed in 2023.
And it looks like Bulgaria is also rejoining Eurovision, after 3 years of not competing.
I have a feeling all these eastern countries (Moldova may also be coming back, they’ve announced a Press Conference for 7pm Monday our time) are only joining to replace all the western and northern countries that will leave if Israel stays.
This has now been confirmed.
Canada might be calling… The Carney government teased in the latest budget that they’re working with CBC to enter the contest.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/eurovision-fed-budget-9.6968399
And the EBU has since confirmed they are in early discussions for them to join
So if this happens, they’ll be taking our guest spot (are we still techincally guests?). Very odd choice, as I don’t think Eurosong has ever been shown in Canada.
Could Celine Dion be a reason for Canada to enter Eurovision?
No I think since 2024 we have had a permanent spot in ESC. That’s why it took so long for our song to be revealed because they were in agreement talks for quite while IIRC.
Canada has shown Eurovision in previous years sporadically through the years on Omni Television and OutTV.
We had a 5-year participation deal that lapsed in 2024, not too sure whether it was renewed but it seems like it has been..
First artist confirmed for 2026.
https://eurovision.tv/story/antigoni-represent-cyprus-vienna-2026