The Romanian broadcaster TVR is set to pay its debt of 17 million CHF (15,3 million Euro) in time for broadcasting the Summer Olympics of 2016 that will be held this summer. On 20 April, TVR’s EBU membership was suspended and therefore the country did not participate in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

The Romanian Parliament is discussing the introduction of a change to the national law, in a way that TVR will be able to use its own yearly budget in order to cover such debts. TVR is going to use parts of its current yearly budget to cover the debt, without additions from the state budget by the Romanian Parliament. In this way, TVR’s access to sport, entertainment and other programs of the EBU network will be secured.

The current law, introduced in 1994, allows TVR to mainly use its state budget for covering the purchase of equipment and spare parts for radio and television as well as using transmitters, radio relays and video and sound circuits.

The debt is set to be paid shortly as the Summer Olympics are set to kick off on 5 August, with the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifications in Europe to begin on 4 September. It means that Romania will be an active EBU member prior to the participation confirmation deadline, and will be eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest of 2017.

Romania was supposed to be represented in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest by Ovidiu Anton, after winning both the jury and public votes in Selecția Națională 2016 with the song Moment of Silence.

Stay tuned to ESCToday for more news regarding Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest!