Following the 95th EBU General Assembly and Spain’s withdrawal from the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in Vienna, Austria next May, the team responsible for organising PrePartyES 2026 has confirmed the event is now cancelled.
🇪🇸 Madrid’s PreParty ES 2026 is cancelled
After the dramatic conclusion to the 95th EBU General Assembly, Spanish broadcaster RTVE confirmed its withdrawal from the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest 2026. In solidarity with the broadcaster’s rejection of the new voting reforms and Israel’s continued Eurovision participation, Eurovision-Spain have confirmed the cancellation of the upcoming PrePartyES 2026.
Originally set for April 4-6, the annual Eurovision pre-party was due to be held in Sala la Riviera in Madrid. This year was the 10th anniversary of PreParty ES. Eurovision-Spain have released a statement on the cancellation:
“Today we share one of the most difficult decisions in our history: we cancel the PrePartyES 2026.
This project was born to celebrate the foundational values of Eurovision such as respect, diversity, coexistence and union through culture.
These values have disappeared. The EBU consents to an insecure, manipulated and politicised environment, and we cannot disengage our event from that reality without betraying the essence that inspired it.
For the PrePartyES, the 2026 edition should be special: our tenth anniversary. It deserved to be a unique, free and celebratory event. Today we know that it would not be possible. We cannot celebrate in the framework of a festival that has been proclaimed complicit in a genocidal State and the repeated violation of its own regulations.
We are deeply hurt to cancel an event that, for almost a decade, has become home, family and a meeting point for thousands of fans, artists, professionals and delegations. The PrePartyES has transcended the festival, and not celebrating it this year is a hard blow for everyone.
Even so, we believe that this decision is an act of responsibility. Eurovision-Spain reiterates its support for RTVE and the rest of the broadcasters that have decided to withdraw in an act of consistency, dignity and defence in the face of the exploitation of Eurovision.
Although it is not the end, we take the opportunity to thank the audiences who have placed trust in the event, the 338 artists and presenters, the European delegations, the sponsors, the La Riviera room and the more than 150 people who have made possible the nine editions of the PrePartyES.
We’ll be back.”
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