Romania: “Road is clear for participation in Kiev”

Romania can and will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kiev. Irina Radu, director of the Romanian national broadcaster TVR, has stated this to press agency Agerpres. Romania was suspended from Eurovision 2016 at the last moment due to payment problems with the EBU.

Those payment problems are now solved, says Agerpres. TVR and EBU are working out a payment plan in which TVR will pay approximately 10 million euros over the next three years. In exchange for these new agreements, TVR obtained broadcasting rights for the Eurovision Song Contest as well as the World Championships of Football in 2018 and 2022.

Last year, Romania was set to take part in Stockholm with Ovidiu Anton as its performer. His song “Moment of Silence” could not participate in the second semi final, due to the financial issues between EBU and TVR.

“We do not want to go through times like that, where we were taken out of the Eurovision competition. I want to return to the performance 10 years ago and we count on this market,” said Irina Radu. Selection details for 2017 have not yet been revealed, but the broadcaster expresses severe happiness about the chance to return to the competition.