Netherlands to skip Eurovision 2027 over Israel's participation

Dutch public broadcaster NPO announced that it would not participate in Eurovision 2027 in Burgas, Bulgaria, reversing its decision to return to the contest announced in September. The decision follows reactions to Israel's participation in the competition.

The Netherlands will not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held next year in Burgas, Bulgaria. Dutch public broadcaster NPO announced that it had reversed its decision, announced in September, to return to the contest.

NPO Director-General Jet de Ranitz said, "It is still too early to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2027." The NPO's media director said, "We have known for some time that Israel's participation has prompted different reactions in society and caused debate and division."

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Other broadcasters offered no support

NPO had planned to organize the Netherlands' participation with an independent team of external experts and involve other public broadcasters in the process. However, none of the broadcasters was willing to provide staff for the project. Following the decision, around 400 NPO employees signed a letter calling on the organization to reconsider its decision to participate in the contest.

AVROTROS, which has represented the Netherlands at Eurovision since 2014, said in August that the contest "can no longer be considered neutral" while one of the participating countries is involved in a large-scale military conflict, and boycotted the 2026 contest in Vienna.

Ireland will also skip 2027

Irish broadcaster RTÉ announced that it would not participate in 2027, saying that participation was "morally unacceptable" because of the situation in Gaza. The head of Spanish broadcaster RTVE also supported continuing the boycott. Last year, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland and Slovenia boycotted the contest after organizers refused to remove Israel from the competition.

Eurovision Director Martin Green said he was "deeply saddened" by the Netherlands' decision not to participate. NPO will nevertheless broadcast the contest on its channels. The Eurovision 2027 final will be held in Burgas on May 15.

Netherlands to skip Eurovision 2027 over Israel's participation