Austria to go ahead with Eurovision despite blow to budget

Austria has said it is moving ahead with plans to host next year's Eurovision, in spite of its budget being hit by four countries boycotting the song contest over Israel's participation and the war in Gaza.

- Philip Oltermann Lisa O'Carroll

At a meeting in Geneva on Thursday, the broadcasters that make up the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) gave the all clear for Israel to take part in Vienna, the contest's 70th anniversary edition. In response, broadcasters from Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands said they would boycott the world's largest live music event, by declining to broadcast the semifinals and finals, and not fielding their own entrants. Even though Spain is among the "big five" nations in terms of financial contributions to Eurovision, Austrian broadcaster ORF said the 2026 event would go ahead in May as planned.

"The show will not suffer in any way," said ORF's director general Roland Weissmann, adding that those pulling out still had until mid-December to change their minds.

"It would of course be a financial burden if several countries didn't participate, but we had taken this into account... and this mainly affects the EBU, which has factored this into its budget," Weissmann said.