Today, the Icelandic broadcaster RÚV held a board meeting. Following the conclusion of the meeting the broadcaster has issued a statement confirming its withdrawal from the Eurovision Song Contest 2026.
🇮🇸 Iceland withdraws from Eurovision 2026
Following the conclusion of the RÚV board meeting, the broadcaster has now confirmed it will not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 taking place in Vienna, Austria next May. Today is officially the last day for broadcasters to withdraw from the upcoming contest without receiving a financial penalty. After last week’s 95th EBU General Assembly, the Icelandic broadcaster chose to delay its final decision in order to schedule a board meeting.
The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service (RÚV) has decided not to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria, next year. The participation of Israeli state television, KAN, in the competition has recently caused disunity, both among the membership stations of the European Broadcasting Union, the EBU, and the public. KAN’s participation was taken for detailed discussion at the EBU’s meetings earlier this year, first in London this summer and in Geneva last week. At the Geneva meeting, the vast majority of the EBU’s membership centres agreed that various changes made to the rules and the implementation of the competition were satisfactory and therefore there was no vote on KAN’s participation in the competition.
The Director General of the Broadcasting Service explained at the meeting in Geneva that although the changes would accommodate many of the comments that RÚV’s representatives had made at various stages of the EBU co-operation in recent years, there were still doubts in RÚV’s opinion that they would be sufficient. It had been repeatedly stated that stakeholders in Iceland, for example artists’ associations, and the Icelandic public were opposed to participating in the competition. The RÚV board would have requested the EBU to remove KAN from the competition with regard to precedents. The case would be a complex resolution and would have already damaged the reputation of the competition and the EBU. It is important to find a solution for all involved.
It is clear from the public debate in Iceland and the response to the decision of the EBU, which was made last week, that there will be no joy or peace about RÚV’s participation in Eurovision. It is therefore the conclusion of RÚV to announce to the EBU today that RÚV will not participate in Eurovision next year. The Eurovision Song Contest and Eurovision have always had the goal of uniting the Icelandic nation, but now it is clear that this goal will not be achieved and on that agenda, this decision is made.
It is not clear whether a singing competition will be held next year. The existing options are being assessed and a decision on this will be made when it is available.”
Before the meeting began at 15:00 local time, a solidarity gathering was organised outside the RÚV headquarters in Reykjavík. Recently there have been numerous calls to boycott the contest from prominent public figures within the Nordic nation. These include Logi Einarsson the Media Minister, the Icelandic Composers and Lyricists Association, and Björk.
“I hope that the board of RÚV stands with human rights because now the joy has gone out of the contest.”
Páll Óskar, (Iceland Eurovision 1997 representative)
In the aftermath of the Basel contest, RÚV had raised concerns to the EBU over the televoting results. This led to a board meeting resolution that passed a motion to support Israel’s exclusion from Eurovision if the General Assembly had resulted in that option.
Meanwhile, the broadcaster had begun preparations for its national selection Söngvakeppnin 2026, with the opening of the song submission window. Ten artists were set to participate in the Icelandic selection.
During the General Assembly all EBU members were invited to vote on the recently announced rule changes proposed by the EBU. These included the return of juries to the Semi-Finals, a reduction in the number of votes from 20 to 10 and strong safeguards to the voting procedures and abilities of governments to campaign for entries. The new rules passed the vote with 738 votes in favour of the new measures, 264 against and 120 abstentions.
This news comes following the shock withdrawals of Ireland, Netherlands, Spain and Slovenia.
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