Romania, excluded from Eurovision 2016 contest over TVR debt

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said Friday that it has withdrawn member’s services for the Romanian public broadcaster TVR, due to unpaid debts worth around EUR 14.5 million.

“TVR will now no longer be able to participate in the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest and will lose access to other EBU member services including the Eurovision News and Sports News Exchanges, the right to broadcast specific sporting events, legal, technical and research expertise and lobbying services,” said the EBU in a statement.

The harsh decision was taken after the government failed to reach a deal with the EBU on the repayment of the debt.

Moreover, the international organization noted that the TVR runs the risk of going into insolvency which would jeopardizes the financial stability of the union, according to EBU’s general director Ingrid Deltenre.

„The government couldn’t have gotten involved in the management of TVR’s debts,” said Dan Suciu, the government’s spokesperson, according to HotNews.ro news portal.

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Suciu said that the public broadcaster is under the subordination of the Parliament.

TVR’s debt problems go back to 2007.

The EBU had asked the Romanian Ministry of Finance in a final letter to pay a portion of the debt (EUR 9 million) by April 20 but this hasn’t happened. The Union was also seeking bank guarantees for the rest of the sum.

The deadline had been extended until April 21 but all was in vain.

Romanian singer Ovidiu Anton was supposed to participate in the song contest this year.

Ovidiu Posirca