AVROTROS Will Stay Out of Eurovision in 2027 Too

For weeks, Dutch media had speculated over whether public broadcaster AVROTROS might soften its stance on Eurovision. The answer came on Monday, August 24: it will not.

AVROTROS announced it will not compete in the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest, making it the only broadcaster that boycotted the 2026 edition in Vienna to now extend that boycott into the next contest as well. The Dutch broadcaster says the competition can no longer be considered neutral while one of the participating countries remains involved in a large scale military conflict.

In the broadcaster’s statement, AVROTROS director general Taco Zimmerman said:

“The Eurovision Song Contest has therefore become a platform for division.”

Zimmerman added that geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are increasingly affecting the contest and deepening the divisions around it, and that changes recently announced by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) have not been convincing enough to show that Eurovision’s independent and neutral character has truly been restored. According to AVROTROS, the split over the contest is also illustrated by the fact that five countries refused to take part in 2026, that some past winners returned their trophies, and that more than a thousand musicians and cultural figures signed an open letter urging the EBU to intervene.

In the same statement, AVROTROS said that continuing to take part in the contest is no longer compatible with the values that guide the broadcaster: trust, independence and humanity. Zimmerman also said:

“The Eurovision Song Contest was originally created to bring people and countries together. It is undeniable that international conflicts are increasingly affecting the Contest, undermining its neutral character. As a public broadcaster, we remain committed to our values. They guide us in everything we do, even when that means stepping away from an event that is very close to our hearts. That is painful as we would have very much liked to be part of the Contest again next year.”

When the boycott first began

AVROTROS first decided to withdraw after the EBU’s General Assembly in December 2025, citing the humanitarian situation in Gaza and concerns over press freedom at the time. A total of five broadcasters pulled out of Eurovision 2026: Iceland, Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands. For the next edition, AVROTROS is the only one keeping up the boycott, while Ireland’s status has not yet been officially confirmed, according to Irish public broadcaster RTE.

AVROTROS has handed responsibility for the Netherlands’ participation in Eurovision back to its parent organization, NPO, which must now decide how to proceed. The first candidate to take over the role, broadcaster Omroep Max, has already turned down the offer, citing financial constraints. Still, AVROTROS staying out of the contest does not necessarily mean Dutch audiences will miss the broadcast altogether: broadcasters NOS and NTR have aired Eurovision in the past even when AVROTROS did not compete, so the same could happen again in 2027.

Eurovision executive supervisor Martin Green also reacted to the decision, saying the organization understands and respects the Dutch broadcaster’s choice, even as it regrets it. Green said organizers will look into whether another Dutch broadcaster might be willing to take on participation, adding:

“We very much hope that audiences and artists in the Netherlands can continue to be represented in the Eurovision Song Contest.”

What comes next before May

The next edition will be the 71st Eurovision Song Contest, held in Burgas, Bulgaria, with the grand final scheduled for May 15, 2027. The final list of participating countries and broadcasters will be known later this year, leaving open the question of whether Dutch audiences will have a representative on stage at all, or whether, as in 2026, they will once again be watching other countries’ songs from the sidelines.