Romania thrown out of Eurovision
European Broadcasting Union takes action against Romanian broadcaster for repeated "non-payment of debts."
- Published by David Knox
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Romania will not be able to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest after the European Broadcasting Union took action against broadcaster TVR for repeated “non-payment of debts.”
Ovidiu Anton was set to perform ‘Moment of Silence’ in the second Semi-Final but is now ineligible to participate.
EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre said: “It is regrettable that we are forced to take this action. We are disappointed that all our attempts to resolve this matter have received no response from the Romanian government.
“In recent weeks the EBU has taken note of the Ministry of Finance’s suggestion that TVR may be placed into insolvency proceedings which may in turn lead to a profound restructuring of the broadcaster. The EBU is a not-for-profit association which represents 73 Public Service Broadcasters in 56 countries. The continued indebtedness of TVR jeopardizes the financial stability of the EBU itself.”
Ovidiu Anton will still appear on the annual CD which has already been produced. Romania won’t get to vote, nor get broadcasting rights to watch the event.
Romania’s misfortune is an advantage to the other participants in the second semi-final, including Australia, with one less act. But not exactly in the spirit of the competition.
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2 Responses
Wow…?!?
I think the disqualification is probably fair enough, given the circumstances. I don’t believe countries should be able to participate if there isn’t a realistic chance they can host the event the following year if they win. I think maybe they could have offered him the chance to perform in the interval or something though. As Terry Wogan used to say when he had to talk over the bits of the broadcast where commercial broadcasters had gone to an ad break, “..Somebody has to pay for all this….”