BHRT, the broadcaster responsible for the Bosnian submissions to the Eurovision Song Contest has today issued a press release confirming their withdrawal. Therefore Bosnia & Herzegovina will not rejoin Eurovision in 2015.
Their statement translates as:
Given the very difficult financial situation in which BHRT finds itself, and a drastic drop in license fee collection, we have withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest, which will be organized next year in Austria.The only way for the participation of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Eurovision Song Contest was to find the necessary sponsorship funds, but BHRT failed in the necessary time to provide this type of financial support.
The EBU had provided an extended deadline to seek this sponsorship deal, but this has now passed without a positive outcome. Bosnia and Herzegovina now joins Croatia on the Balkan sidelines for 2015. After 18 prior participations, the highest Bosnian result remains Hari Mata Hara’s ‘Lejla’ from (gulp) eight and a half years ago. The Željko Joksimović-penned entry reached third place.
