Another broadcaster has confirmed they will not compete in Junior Eurovision 2020, again citing the Covid-19 pandemic as their reason for staying away. North Macedonia’s broadcaster MRT has told media they will not compete in Krakow, a rare year-off for the contest regulars.
Broadcaster MRT confirmed their decision to Eurovision news site Eurovoix. The site reported that MRT’s reason for withdrawing was “due to the current COVID-19 pandemic”.
North Macedonia has been competing in Junior Eurovision since the inaugural contest in 2003. They have only taken two years off previously, 2012 (unhappy with the voting system and for budgetary reasons) and 2014 (unhappy with the previous year’s result).
A year of pandemic withdrawals
The Balkan nation joins regular Junior Eurovision competing countries Wales and Australia who have also confirmed that they won’t be part of the contest in 2020.
Earlier in July, Welsh broadcaster S4C tweeted that “Due to the present circumstances, unfortunately we will not be taking part in this year’s contest.”
Soon after, Australian broadcaster SBS confirmed to wiwibloggs that they also would not be heading to Poland in November. A spokesperson said “Due to the current restrictions and the ongoing uncertainty around this situation, Australia will not be competing in the Junior Eurovision Contest 2020. We have informed the EBU of our decision.”
It is important to note that these three countries have only confirmed their non-participation at Junior Eurovision 2020, not total withdrawal from all future editions of the contest.
So far, 13 countries have provisionally confirmed their intention to participate in the contest. This includes Germany, who will be making their debut. Fans are still waiting on the 2019 participants Albania, Armenia, Italy and Portugal to confirm their participation for 2020.
With three countries having withdrawn from Junior Eurovision 2020 due to Covid-19 concerns, the question remains whether countries will have to make the same decision regarding their participation in Eurovision 2021.
Junior Eurovision 2020 is due to take place on 29 November. It will be held in Warsaw, Poland, hosted at a large television studio.
Are you disappointed to see North Macedonia bow out? Will we see any more debuts in this year’s contest? Tell us your thoughts below!
It’s up to following countries to save the day:
* Armenia
* Italy
* Portugal
* United Kingdom (with BBC)
They need to cancel it this virus wont leave for a while
Gurl, I hope Armenia, Portugal, Albania, and Italy won’t do the same thing like Australia, Wales, and North Macedonia. This means that Serbia is the only Balkan country competing at JESC 2020 unless Albania confirms participation. Also, I have a feeling that the countries of Eastern Europe is dominating this year at JESC than the countries of Western Europe.
my favorite and the most underrated country in JESC </3 love you macedonia and mila moskov
It ‘s sad that some country ‘s won ‘t participated in this year Junior Eurovision but off cause I understand it. Hopefully we will see them back in 2021.
So from the jesc 2019 participants we have: Albania, Armenia, Italy and Portugal, and also there are possibilities that Azebraijan and UK will be back. Portugal has already said that it’s most likely to partipicate and I don’t see Italy missing out as well. The Albanian entry for jesc 2018 said Albania is not going to partipicate but I hope it’s wrong. I hope to see Armenia as well like in every year (actually Armenia always confirms partipication very late so right now I’m less worried), and i hope to see Azerbaijan and UK returning. Anyway, I have a feeling… Read more »
The following countries are here to stay:
* Armenia
* Italy
* Portugal
No blame here. They have to do what is right for them. Thankfully, it seems we’ve already got enough provisionally confirmed countries that a contest can run if it is reasonably safe to do so.
I’ve been hearing rumours that Albania won’t be participating but Armenia and Portugal will be. There is also talk that Azerbaijan and the United Kingdom may be taking part but I doubt either of them will be there to be honest. I think it will be a 15 country show.
Yeah I predicted the same number. Be lucky if we get 16, but I doubt it.
Where have you heard that UK will be taking place? I’ve searched online and was unable to find anything.
It says it on the Wikipedia page jesc 2020
Yeah, as a Brit myself I can say that the BBC does nowhere near as much kids things ITV (in terms of competitions)
Guess we’re not counting the legends Dick ‘n’ Dom in Da Bungalow.
They should just cancel the contest as well. It is safer and then the next time all countries can participate and so we don‘t have a contest with like 10 countries this time.
There’s already 13 confirmed
Oh No! My favorite JESC country next to Spain 🙁
And now Serbia is all alone in JESC 2020…
Not at all, there are others 12 countries here
Will they still be broadcasting the show? That to me signals whether or not they intend to return.
Sadly Wales won’t even be broadcasting the contest, which after coming last both times is a worrying sign 🙁
If a broadcaster have already paid the rights to air the show regardless of participation, then they would.
In the case of Wales, as I mentioned in another thread of a separate article, Wales’s S4C uses JESC as an outlet to showcase and promote the Welsh language to their audience at home and to the rest of Europe. It’s in their mandate and as such since they can’t take part, what would be the point of airing this year’s JESC if they’re not sending a song to the contest?
So who’s next?
Portugal and Albania
Portugal said they’re “Highly likely” to participate. I think Albania won’t participate
I feel like Italy will stay, as it has the situation in control and they actually confirmed intentions to take part earlier in the summer.
Albania, Armenia and Portugal are 50/50, because they could go either way. They don’t have that good situation with the pandemic, so we could see more withdrawals, but let’s hope for the best!
Imagine Armenia withdraws from the competition. I mean come on, Armenia is the most successful country in Junior Eurovision than Eurovision. I felt like Armenia shouldn’t withdraw from JESC because you know, Armenia has so many great entries.
Likely to participate – Italy & Portugal (Italy already confirmed that they’re interested to participate this year and Portugal said they’re “highly likely” to participate)
Possible withdrawal – Albania & Armenia
Armenia is here to stay.
It’s really a pity that we won’t see one of my favourite countries in both JESC & ESC competing in Junior Eurovision this year. I completely understand the decision behind this though as it’s really a risk and a financial strain to participate this year. I was absolutely in love with North Macedonia’s entry last year (The song, the singer and even the staging), so hopefully they can come back stronger in 2021!
I feel sorry for North Macedonia, they finally won a good place, and here the resignation shows how the virus affected the financial situation in the Balkans and showed the region’s problems with poverty, there are also voices that Albania may resign, I am curious if Serbia is also changing its mind about participation
RTS won’t change their mind, they already opened submissions for the contest.
They didn’t even get their best finish last year. Best in a while, yes, but they finished fifth back in 2007.
They looked to be getting their mojo back last year, possibly bolstered on by Tamara’s success in Tel Aviv, so it’s a shame that they’ve been set back. Like I said before, Italy’s the only one I’m particularly wary about at this point, but we shall see.
I guess no country will finish 12th this year?
Well there’s always Ireland
Well yes