Today, TVR announced on their official website that Romania would participate in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest! The participation is still subject to the approval of the broadcaster’s 2018 budgeting plans. Nevertheless, the board at TVR are fully confident of their participation in Portugal next year.
“One of TVR’s premium events”
It has been a couple of difficult years at TVR. However, it seems they are solving their problems. The Director General at the broadcaster, Irina Radu, made the following statement (translated from Romanian):
“Eurovision is one of the premium events TVR is involved with, which is why we want to start preparations early for Romania’s participation in the 2018 edition of the competition. We will have more time to organise the national selection. We will have more time to prepare Romania’s representatives for their show on the Eurovision stage. And, we will have more time to attract additional sponsors and partners for the project from Bucharest and across the country.“
Bouncing back from a difficult 2016
Since the introduction of the Eurovision semi-finals in 2004, Romania appeared in every single grand final up until 2016. Last year, Romania selected Ovidiu Anton to represent the country with Moment of Silence. Nevertheless, just a couple of weeks before rehearsals in Stockholm got underway, the EBU expelled TVR due to repeated failures to pay debts. As a result, they were forced to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest.
TVR was back with a vengeance this year. Ilinca and Alex Florea were dominant winners in Selecţia Naţională and went on to finish in 7th place in Kyiv with Yodel It!. The duo scored Romania’s fourth best result in the history of the contest. In addition, they certainly provided one of the contest’s most memorable performances in recent years!
Are you pleased Romania will participate in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest? Do you think they can finally achieve that elusive victory? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
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