The past days sure has been a special one, as not only did 1 country announce their intent to return, but two did. The neighboring pair of countries, that being Romania and Bulgaria, have officially announced that they will indeed return to the contest, when the contest is now set to have it’s 70th anniversary edition in Vienna, Austria.
Romania in 2026
Starting with Romania, as they announced their return first. The nation will participate once more in the contest, after having been sitting out both the 2024 and 2025 contest, which were held in Malmö, Sweden and Basel, Switzerland.
The administration council at Romania’s national broadcaster (TVR) approved the budget for allowing the country to return to participating in the song contest. Not much else has been shared yet, when it comes to how Romania will select their entry for 2026, but having missed the past two editions, has shown how the people at the broadcaster need to evolve and develop, in order to achieve success once again in the contest.
General Director president of Romanian Television, Dan-Cristian Turturică, did comment earlier this year, on how the broadcaster had lost a touch and trust with the Romanian music scene, which had caused the professional level of representatives at the national stage to dwindle.
It is expected that Romania will continue will selecting through their national final, “SelecÈ›ia NaÈ›ională“, but further confirmation is at the moment awaited. Romania last took part in 2023, represented by Teodor Andrei and his song “D.G.T.(Off and On)“, which scored Romania zero points in the semi-final, when the contest was held in Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Bulgaria in 2026
The following day, the country south of the Danube river, before it reaches the Black Sea, Bulgaria, also decided to announce that they will also return for the contest, when it will celebrate it’s 70th edition here in 2026. Bulgaria also missed out on the past two editions, as well as the 2023 contest, which was held in Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Bulgaria withdrew from the contest back then, due to lack of funds and support for the continuation of taking part in the contest, since Bulgaria has been heavily dependent on sponsorship deal in recent years, in order to take part. However, General Director at Bulgarian television, Emil Koshlukov, stated the following, regarding the decision about returning to the contest:
- “Eurovision is a stage where cultures meet and stories are shared. BNT supports talented artists and we are happy that we were able to once again provide an opportunity for a Bulgarian artist to represent our country in front of an audience of millions.“
Just like with Romania, the Bulgarian national broadcaster (BNT) has also not shared much either regarding their selection process, but will be working hard to select the best possible representative of Bulgaria, ahead of the upcoming contest.
It is expected that Bulgaria will select their entry for Vienna internally, but whether that will be the case or not, will be confirmed later on. Bulgaria last took part in 2022, when they were represented by Intelligent Music Project and their song “Intention“, sadly the song barely left an impression in it’s semi-final, and finished 16th with 29 points, when the contest took place in Torino, Italy.
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Source(s): TVRinfo.ro (In Romanian) and BNT.bg (In Bulgarian)