Montenegro and North Macedonia withdraw from next year’s Eurovision

Montenegro and North Macedonia will not compete in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, due to the cost of entry. 

Broadcasters pay a fee to take part in the song competition, but the price differs depending on the size of the country.

According to an article from the BBC, some countries have been asked to pay more after Russia was banned from the contest due to its invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

Montenegro’s public-service broadcaster RTCG said: “In addition to the significant costs of registration fees, as well as the cost of staying in Great Britain, we also faced a lack of interest from sponsors, so we decided to direct existing resources to the financing of current and planned national projects.”

The total cost for all broadcasters involved usually amounts to around £5m (€5.7m/$5.7m) but the exact amount each participant pays is not made public. According to the BBC, some other countries also considered withdrawing from Eurovision due to the additional costs.

MRT – the public-service broadcaster of North Macedonia – and Montenegro’s RTCG both failed to make it past the semi-final stages of this year’s Eurovision in Turin, Italy.

In a statement, MRT said that the increased registration fee for participation, as well as the continuing energy crisis in North Macedonia, forced the decision to pull out.

Liverpool was announced as the host of the 67th Eurovision Song Contest, holding the competition in place of this year’s winner Ukraine.

The English city was chosen over the Scottish city of Glasgow.