Another national broadcaster has stepped forward this week to raise concerns with the EBU regarding the voting system and Israel’s participation in Eurovision. This time, it is RTVSLO, Slovenia’s national broadcaster.
Moreover, RTVSLO has stated that they are prepared to withdraw from future editions of the contest if the EBU does not present concrete solutions to these issues.
Slovenia was the first country to call for a debate about Israel’s participation at Eurovision, initially writing to the EBU in December 2024. Now, following the fallout over the 2025 contest results, the broadcaster has repeated its appeal with starker terms.
RTVSLO echoes the growing concerns voiced by broadcasters in Spain, Iceland, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway, focusing on key issues from both ethical and public perspectives, as well as on voting transparency and Israel’s inclusion.
Slovenia may withdraw from Eurovision
Ksenija Horvat, Director of TV Slovenia, has sent a letter to the EBU expressing concern over how Israel’s participation has shifted the dynamics of the contest, making Eurovision anything but apolitical and unifying. Horvat noted that she had already addressed the EBU on this matter last year, but without success — and since then, the concerns have only grown stronger.
“Unfortunately, the response we received did not contain convincing or concrete explanations, nor did it reflect the urgency and seriousness of the issue we are addressing. During this time, the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories has worsened, and public concern — both in Slovenia and throughout Europe — has increased significantly.
“Many viewers in Slovenia and elsewhere expressed serious doubts about the credibility and transparency of the voting, especially in light of the political context surrounding the contest. The feeling that political interests could influence decisions on participation or the final vote results has shaken public trust in the impartiality of the EBU.
“We are particularly interested in comparing telephone votes with online votes, as we believe this is essential to restoring trust in the integrity of the voting process. As a public media organisation, we have a duty to provide our audience with accurate and verifiable information.
“As a broadcaster accountable to the public, Television Slovenia is under increasing pressure to respond to these concerns. If the EBU does not take concrete steps and address these issues, we will be forced to reconsider our participation in future Eurovision events.
“We will be compelled to take this step if the EBU continues to ignore these key concerns — concerns that must be addressed from both an ethical and public interest perspective. We are calling for an open, inclusive, and urgent debate among EBU members — including music performers and civil society representatives — on voting transparency, engagement policies, and the consistent, credible implementation of the EBU’s stated values.”
In her message, Horvat emphasised the growing lack of public trust in the voting system following this year’s contest. She explained that RTVSLO is submitting a series of specific questions to the EBU, urging the organisation to be transparent and to disclose all relevant details about the voting process.
While the decision to consider withdrawal has not been taken lightly, the broadcaster remains firm in its stance: if no meaningful measures are implemented, they are prepared to act accordingly.
She concluded the letter by stating that RTVSLO hopes to receive “a serious and substantive response and to restore trust in the transparency, accountability, and values to which the EBU is committed.”
Slovenia was represented at Eurovision 2025 by Klemen with the song “How Much Time Do We Have Left.” The entry finished in 13th place during the first semi-final, failing to qualify for the final.
Do you think Slovenia will actually withdraw from Eurovision next year? Will the EBU take the necessary steps to address the growing concerns of broadcasters and the public? Let us know in the comments below.
…and the hatefest obsession continues.
Slovenia, send good songs and the voting process will be fine I’m sure.
Well… Not a great loss…????
haha right?
Excuses excuses excuses
I’m so tired of the modern days being so corrupt and unfair. Almost everything is going downhill.
The way things are going and very sadly and tragically, very likely in my opinion sanctions will begin soon like what happened to Russia, will start with sports, etc and ESC will be forced to join the boycott. Gone too far. I don’t see them participating next year.
Cry babies ?
Yes, if Israel is eliminated from the competition, Slovenia will win, very realistic…
According to the Eurovision Fun website (dunno how factual it is) but Spain is also considering withdrawing if the EBU doesn’t listen to them.
The heat is on, and the EBU knows exactly what they need to do. Will they do it though?
They better had.
Not anymore. Spain has just recently begun preparations for Benidormfest 2026…
House of cards.
In that case Finland will probably join too, and for the first time, I’d support that. The voting manipulation by Israel was a total fiasco, it should never have been allowed to happen for the 2nd time. (And didn’t believe people could be so stupid as to “protest vote” for Israel for the 2nd time, but sadly they were. )
If Israel wouldn’t participate, Slovenia still wouldn’t qualify,
Spain would receive 15 televote points instead of 10,
and JJ would still win.
Wished they could let fans vote on the issue whether to keep Israel in or not.
Good sentiment. But I’d like to know how that voting would work!
Actually peeps are already voting through streaming listening choices and purchases. Which songs are reaching the most listeners?
In my opinion, this is not a question of whether Israel should continue participating in ESC for the sake of consistency, ethics, and humanity. “It cannot participate.”
How do you stop them from buying that vote too?
Exactly what i thought
As if that would be a fair vote!
Read it properly…..they are considering leaving.
Huge bravo to Slovenia! A small country that stands its ground against the EBU and their buddies Israel. I sincerely hope more countries push the EBU by following Slovenia’s example.
And I am deeply ashamed that my country Greece has become Israel’s loyal ally these past few years contrary to how it was during the last century and of course contrary to how the majority of Greeks feel about the issue.
If the war is over by April next year, do you think Israel should take part?
A decision on this matter should be made at the very latest before October 2025. As long as Israel seizes land, uproots Gazan civilians and continues its indiscriminate aerial bombardments with no hostages deal in sight, I frankly don’t see how one can separate between the casualties of war and the political fallout with an EBU exclusion in 2026.
Define war is over:
If any of the above clauses is violated then no
Even if the conflict stopped, the humanitarian crisis would go beyond April next year and people would still hold Israel accountable.
So at what point it’s ok for them to join back? I don’t think things are going great in Afghanistan and Iraq, but we do have the UK in Eurovision.
Klemen in 2025 should have qualified for the final
I loved Slovenia’s song too.
That’s the only language that the EBU seem to understand.
They’re tying this contest by ignoring the requests of its broadcasters in favour of Israel.
The heat is on but EBU is still doing everything BUT the obvious.
Well done Slovenia and hopefully more broadcasters follow suit. I know who is rather have participating next year that’s for sure…
Israel out now.
Bravo Slovenia?? Croatians stand by your side!!!
But the HRT is being silent all along. So frustrating.
As a Slovenian, I’m proud that the director of RTV SLO has stood up to the EBU and is demanding clear, concrete answers. I fully support the decision that Slovenia should not participate if serious changes aren’t made. This isn’t an empty threat – Eurovision is the most-watched show of the year on our national broadcaster, and this step should not be taken lightly. Of course, I understand that Slovenia is a small country, and without the support of other broadcasters, not much may change. But it’s still important to take a stand. What saddens me even more is the… Read more »
The EBU should have released something tangible by now. If the voting system is so sophisticated, then it ought to be easy to find out, say, how many 20x votes were won by a particular country.
And what if the system shows that the only points Slovenia got in the Semi were by Slovenians living in Croatia and voting 20 times for Slovenia?
30% of slovenian points in semi 1 were given by former Yugoslavian neighbours.
39% in 2024.
87% in 2022.
25% in 2021.
Everybody needs good neighbours. Especially if your entries are not great.
The song that got 0 points from the public is outstreaming the televote winner. So are more than half of the other songs. It could not be any more obvious. Wake up.
I don’t imagine any song from Israel being popular worldwide at this moment, so at least that is a factor to be taken into consideration when making such comparisons. (But I agree with the conclusion.)
Most of the 170 million people watching the songs just on TV in the Semis and Gran Final, vote for the performance they love most in that moment. And on Sunday they go on with their lives.
Paul, every comment you post makes me realise how more and more naive you are.
If only life was as simple as the world you’ve imagined in your head.
170 million people watch Eurovision and the winning performance has only 10 million views on youtube.
Not unique viewers, but views.
That’s the relevance of Eurovision.
On Sunday morning most people of the 170 million who watched the songs for the first time and voted for the song they were touched by most, have forgotten all about Eurovision and go on with other things in life.
Eurovision is not a big thing.
Haha exactly! People here are delusional about Eurovision content consumption and are looking for conspiracies like basic trumpists
You have a genuine point here, doesn’t add up.
Contrary to the director’s talking points, Slovenia isn’t the pied piper in this story nor should it wear a badge of honor for being ‘first’ in virtue signalling in injecting politics. Adressing this in December 2024 was WAY TOO LATE to expel Israel or even start a formal procedure with the support of a serious block of othet member countries. If it were so adamant about Israel’s future in the contest after all that went wrong in Malmo, why didn’t Slovenia bring it up already in June 2024 when something effective could have been at least explored up till October… Read more »
The next contest is a year away.
I mean, in dreamland, hopefully the heinous atrocities conducted by the IDF will be over by then. Ceasefire. Bibi voted out. Apology from new government.
It seems none of us have hope of change. Sad.
I really wish this, as an Israeli. Amen
With Russia, several countries threatened to withdraw. Now, Slovenia is the first country to even consider withdrawing. It is gonna take more than Slovenia and more than considering. Even so, this sounds like the first broadcaster to take seriously in this matter. Anything less than threating to withdraw wont amount to anything.
They are not. They want a sympathetic ear and cointries to plead them not to. It’s a cry for love.
Respect!
The EBU should start realizing that it is not an institution that can afford to dictate rules to all national broadcasters solely based on the interests of a few privileged members. Instead, the EBU should represent the interests of all participating members. If it fails to act in line with their expectations, it is only right that its leadership be dismissed.
It’s not possible to represent the interests of ALL members. Israel are a member. Germany. Etc.
Majority rule, I guess?
I’m laughing so hard I pee my pants! It’s not about loosing a few broadcasters. They’ll loose everything eventually. These are just the first few. Let’s see how much more they can take. Soon they’ll have enough broadcasters to fit in just a single final without semis. Will be nice to see how much pressure the EBU can take
I don’t think they care, as long as the BBC and the German and French broadcaster keep their mouth shut. We have Spain now, big5, and the Netherlands, big 6, but we need more countries to speak up to force changes.
They really don’t care… you can cry all you want, they won’t kick Israel out unless they break the rules
Shame the bbc couldn’t keep their mouths shut with Maltese song
Hopefully not. I hope for them also making RTVSLO a question for one off sponsors such as Booking, Royal Caribbean or EasyJet, due to its influence with politicians and Martin Osterdahl himself.
My guess is that we will se fewer countries in ESC, sadly. Maybe then EBU will get it.
EBU will do nothing about it. They will continue to claim “broadcasters, not countries compete”. Which no one really believes..
And Israel will continue their vote campaign until they actually win. Which might happen next year looking at it..
Glad I don’t work for EBUA..
The broadcasters are all members of EBU. So, it is our call. The viewers. Honestly, if we are not able to spend 5 minutes writing and sending a mail voicing our concern to the heads of delegations and the broadcaster, we do deserve every cheating participant in the world. So, hey guys! Let’s do this!
Hilarious and performative.
Bye Felicia!
ew get a new name
won’t miss them, were they in the final this year, nope so no loss
Israel is here to stay anyway so
If I were you, I would be very careful to make such a statement. You may have to take your words back. Anyway so
Then possibly Serbia would also suddenly withdraw if they don’t have enough budget to make PZE final next year if you mentioned fewer countries
No way, I don’t believe Serbia will withdraw any time soon, for an obvious reason which has little to do with music.
They may not in the final but they entitled right for their concern. So what is problem? Israel should be expelled forever after what had happened today.
Always the most basic entries from Slovenia. No disrespect to Slovenian people, but this is very bad music coming from there no offense
You did NOT just call Veronika basic.
Veronika was very basic and uninteresting.
Shouting in a nude suit with nippel appliquee.