During a meeting held today, October 30, the Board of Directors of the Romanian Television Company (SRTv) voted in favor of Romania’s return to the Eurovision Song Contest. This marks the country’s comeback for the 70th edition of the competition, which will take place next May in Vienna.
The decision has delighted both Romanian Eurovision fans and the wider Eurovision community, many of whom were hoping to see Romania rejoin the lineup this year. The timing is also symbolic, as TVR celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2026…the same year as Eurovision’s own milestone edition.
Dan-Cristian Turturică, President-General Director of SRTv, explained the reasoning behind the decision:
“I proposed resuming Romania’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest because, during our two-year absence, we had time to reflect on what went wrong in the relationship between TVR, the music industry, and the creative community. We identified what needed to change on our side in order to ensure a more competitive selection process and a show worthy of the contest’s scale — ultimately improving the quality of Romania’s presence on the Eurovision stage.”
“Since Eurovision is a team effort, we dedicated significant time to aligning the expectations and contributions of everyone involved, so that Romania can be represented in the best possible way.”
“We also appreciate the understanding shown by the European Broadcasting Union, which adapted its invitation to Romanian Television to take into account the challenges our institution faces. This demonstrates a genuine interest in Romania’s participation in this global television event.”
This announcement follows a turbulent chapter in Romania’s Eurovision history. During its last participation in 2023, TVR faced strong criticism from its representative, Theodor Andrei, who cited poor communication, lack of support, and limited collaboration. These issues ultimately contributed to a disappointing zero-point result. Theodor was not the first Romanian artist to voice such concerns.
Now, however, Romania appears ready for a fresh start. The broadcaster has acknowledged its past missteps and pledged to implement new strategies moving forward. Turturică added:
“With today’s decision, TVR reaffirms its commitment to supporting Romanian artists, harnessing the creative potential of our music industry, and promoting Romania on one of the world’s most prestigious stages.”
Are you excited about Romania’s return to Eurovision? Who would you like to see representing the country in Vienna next year? Let us know in the comments below!
None of these news about Romania has their latest participant as a photo XD
Great!!! Romanian spirit is always welcome in ESC. Just bring something fresh, energetic and cheerful like Paula & Ovi and Mandinga’s performances that made Romania great.
Marvellous news. Always loved Paula Selling & Ovi. Good luck Romania in 2026. Come back with a banger.
funded by Simona Halep apparently, their budget being around 14 million euros
We need Lebanon Tunisia and Morocco now
We need all the countries that are glad to participate in the contest. If these countries were, I’m sure they would be welcomed by the community as well.
And now Bulgaria’s back, they confirmed today!
This is awesome news! Greetings from Serbia!
Yay, Romania is coming back! And just in time for the 70th anniversary! Hopefully, they have taken the time to learn from their mistakes and get back on track to make it to the final for the first time since 2022. I hope their comeback era is just around the corner.
2022 was the private project of some millionaire. As long as they don’t do that and go back to their 2016-2021 strategy they should be fine.
Welcome back Romania, the more the merrier. Eurovision gets back on track. 🙂
If they don’t find at least 5 new countries to rejoin, we will quite possibly have the smallest number of participants in years (if many leave thanks to a lovely country that cares for no one but its political image)
If we have more people with a loser attitude of twisting and trashing other countries, including as far-fetched tainting every positive wiwi article that doesn’t even have anything to do with another country – then indeed Eurovision and any event will eventually loose its spirit, its participants, and crumbles. If those 3 other “lovely” countries with their own political agendas and true corruptions and attempts to impress with their fake richesness keep the same destructive attitude towards the contest – then by all means get out, as that will definitely improve the contest’s spirit with only countries who actually focus… Read more »
Just say you don’t respect human rights. It’s fewer words.
holy shht..yeesssssssssssss
I had that same reaction too
As a Romanian, this is the biggest shock of the year.
Wasn’t expecting it either, but it’s a nice surprise. Do you think they’ve learned their lesson?
this means that EBU is running the contingency plan for Israel staying in the contest
Be prepared for anything.
Question is will this cover for the two or more countries that will leave?
Given the way things seem to be at the moment, yes I think this’ll be enough to cover if Israel’s (hopefully) kicked out
I think Israel will stay..
Now will this be enough if Spain and/ or Netherlands stay home?
No, given how the leader of the reference group is from Spain, a vote is definitely going to be pushed and given the anger of most of the countries, Israel’s leaving (pleaseeeeeeee)
Also, no, not even close, Netherlands and Spain have a lot of money that East Europe doesn’t have.
yeah, I don’t think this will be the only returning country
I just wish I could be happy about it
Get real! Israel was never going to stay out.
Finally some good news !!
? Paula Seling & Ovi ?