“Thirty-five stations will send songs and artists to Vienna for the 2026 contest, which will take place from May 12 to 16,”, announced the EBU in a statement released today.
Competing in the 70th Eurovision Song Contest will be entries from Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.
This month, after it was decided during the EBU General Assembly that Israel could participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 if it desired, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Iceland announced they would not participate in the 70th edition of the contest.
The boycotts are due to Israel’s military attacks in the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip over the past two years, which have killed at least 67,000 people and were classified as genocide by an independent international commission of investigation from the United Nations.
The Eurovision Song Contest is organized by the EBU in cooperation with public television operators from over 35 countries, including RTP.
In the statement released today, the EBU does not mention the boycotts but highlights the return of Bulgaria, Romania, and Moldova to the contest after three, two, and one year of absence, respectively.
The 70th edition of the contest will again feature two semifinals, scheduled for May 12 and 14, with 15 songs competing in each.
In 2026, the festival semifinals will once again include professional juries, a feature absent since 2022. Both the semifinals and the final will have a vote distribution of “approximately 50/50 between jury votes and public votes,” according to new rules approved at the EBU’s ordinary winter General Assembly earlier this month.
The juries will now consist of seven members (previously five), who must represent a “variety of professional experiences” linked to music and the arts and are required to sign an impartiality commitment.
“Each jury will include at least two jurors aged between 18 and 25,” announced the EBU at the beginning of the month.
Also, the maximum number of votes possible for each viewer (cast online, via SMS, or phone call) is reduced from twenty to ten.
In the final, held on May 16, besides the 20 entries chosen in the semifinals (ten from each), songs from four of the ‘Big 5’ (the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy) and the host country (Austria) will also compete.
The ‘Big 5’ consists of public broadcasters that contribute more funding to the European Broadcasting Union and, consequently, to the organization of the Eurovision Song Contest. Spain is the fifth country in the ‘Big 5’ group.
The Eurovision Song Contest has been held annually since 1956, and some countries have been excluded, such as Belarus in 2021 after the re-election of President Aleksandr Lukashenko, and Russia in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine.
Israel was the first non-European country allowed to participate, starting in 1973, and has won four times.
Portugal’s representative for the contest is chosen at the Festival da Canção, organized by RTP, which in 2026 will take place in February and March, split as usual into two semifinals (on February 21 and 28) and a final (on March 7).
In November, RTP announced the 16 artists and bands that will compose entries for the contest.
Meanwhile, on December 10, the majority announced they would refuse to represent Portugal at Eurovision if they win the Festival da Canção, in protest against Israel’s participation in the contest.
“With words and songs, we act within the possibilities given to us. We do not condone the violation of human rights,” stated the artists and bands, including Cristina Branco, Bateu Matou, Rita Dias, and Djodje, in a joint statement to Lusa.
When RTP announced that Portugal would participate in the 70th Eurovision Song Contest, representative structures of workers at the public broadcaster contested the decision, viewing it as needing revision.
RTP workers believe that “keeping KAN [the Israeli public television] in the event contributes to the legitimization and normalization of a state accused of war crimes” and argue it is “incomprehensible that RTP confirmed Portugal’s participation and supported the approval of new rules that, in practice, keep Israel — and KAN — in the competition.”
Also, musician Salvador Sobral, who gave Portugal its only Eurovision victory in 2017 with “Amar pelos dois,” composed by Luísa Sobral, criticized RTP’s decision.
For Salvador Sobral, it’s an example of “political cowardice, (…) consistent with the institutional cowardice, of public institutions.”
Another Eurovision Song Contest winner, Swiss singer Nemo, who brought victory to his country in 2024, announced last week that he would return the trophy in protest against Israel’s participation in 2026.
“This is not about individuals or artists. The contest has been repeatedly used to soften the image of a state accused of criminal acts, while the EBU insisted Eurovision ‘is not political,'” the artist argued in a social media post.
