The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has announced its intention to hold a “broad discussion” about this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with all participating broadcasters to address important aspects of preparing for the 2026 contest. Alongside Belgium and Spain’s calls to review the voting system, other public broadcasters have joined in, according to information from the Belgian broadcaster VRT.
Following the conclusion of Eurovision in Basel, several public broadcasters expressed concerns about the voting system and questioned the contest’s apolitical nature. Notably, such statements were made by VRT (Belgium), RÚV (Iceland), Yle (Finland), RTVSLO (Slovenia), RTVE (Spain), AVROTROS and NPO (Netherlands).
VRT spokesperson Yasmin Van der Borght emphasized that while there is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the vote counting, broadcasters demand “full transparency” in the voting process. RTVE also announced its intention to approach the EBU to initiate a discussion about the format of televoting, specifically whether military conflicts might influence the results.
Leaders of RÚV and Yle expressed similar concerns, noting that if the focus is on viewer voting, it is worth seriously considering the appropriateness of allowing one person to vote multiple times.
In response, contest director Martin Green stated that “the Eurovision voting process is one of the most advanced in the world, and the results from each country are verified by a large team to exclude suspicious or irregular voting patterns.” He also added that after the contest in Basel, the EBU will conduct a “broad discussion” with all participants to gather feedback as part of preparations for the 70th Eurovision in 2026.
Earlier, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez accused the EBU of “double standards,” as Israel was allowed to participate while Russia was excluded in 2022 due to its invasion of Ukraine. In a joint statement, Dutch broadcasters AVROTROS and NPO noted that Israel’s participation calls into question the contest’s apolitical and unifying character.
This is not the first call to discuss Israel’s participation: the Irish broadcaster and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the UK have also spoken out on the issue. Former contest participants signed an open letter demanding Israel’s disqualification, emphasizing the need for equal rules for all countries.
The armed conflict between Israel and Palestine has already sparked controversy during the previous contest in Sweden, considered the most politicized Eurovision in history. In 2024, Israeli singer Eden Golan placed 5th, and a petition for disqualification was signed by over 56,000 people.
In 2025, Israel’s representative Yuval Rafal won the viewer vote with 297 points, which, combined with 60 jury points, earned her 2nd place. The winner was Austrian artist JJ, who received only 178 points from viewers.
