Bulgaria’s BNT provisionally confirms participation in Eurovision 2018…

This evening, BNT has provisionally confirmed Bulgaria’s participation in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. The news broke via the broadcaster’s official Eurovision Twitter account a matter of minutes ago!

A change of board resulted in uncertainty

Over the summer, Bulgaria’s participation in both the Eurovision Song Contest and its junior counterpart has been up in the air. This was due to a change of director general and board at BNT. However, reports in recent weeks have indicated that new director general Konstantin Kamenarov and his board are positive about the Eurovision brand. It now seems that such positivity is turning into official participation announcements!

But BNT is “joining the party”…

Asked this evening whether reports from earlier today that claimed Bulgaria’s participation in Lisbon next year were accurate, BNT confirmed that it was indeed the case:

It's true.

— BNT Eurovision 🇧🇬 (@bg_eurovision) September 17, 2017

…at least on a provisional basis

Nevertheless, while this indicates that BNT has filed the required preliminary paperwork to the EBU for next year’s contest, BNT are keen to insist that participation is not yet 100% confirmed. Indeed, after applying provisionally, broadcasters are usually granted a period of a few weeks to withdraw from the upcoming contest without penalty. A follow-up tweet explains that “more details regarding the matter will be released soon“.

However, we should wait for some things to be sorted out. More information to be released later on.

— BNT Eurovision 🇧🇬 (@bg_eurovision) September 17, 2017

Is Junior Eurovision participation still on the cards?

Earlier this month, BNT was also putting plans in place to take part in the 2017 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. This was despite the participants’ list being announced in August, somewhat prematurely in the view of some broadcasters. We shall wait to see if these plans work out!

Are you happy that it seems that Bulgaria is heading to Lisbon? Can they maintain their momentum and take their first Eurovision victory? Let us know in the comments below!