Two new members have joined the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group upon a special invite, both members have served in the said Reference Group before.
Tomislav Štengl (HRT) and David Tserunyan (AMPTV) have both joined the Reference Group for a two year term. David Tseruyan is the Armenian Head of Delegation at ESC and Tomislav Stengl is the Croatian Head of Delegation. Both have been members of the Reference Group in recent years.
Hence currently there are 8 members in the Reference Group. The EBU is yet to include a representative from the 2026 ESC Host Broadcaster ORF ie the ESC 2026 Executive Producer and the new Eurovision Song Contest Executive Supervisor.
The Reference Group
- Ana Maria Bordas (RTVE/Spain)- Chair
- Ms. Carla Bugalho –(RTP/Portugal) (Eurovision 2018 Executive Producer) Elected Member
- Molly Plank (DR/Denmark)- Elected Member
- Claudia Van Der Pas (AVROTROS/ Netherlands)- Elected Member
- Mr. Moritz Stadler (Switzerland) (SSR-SRG/Switzerland)(Eurovision 2025 co Executive Producer)
- Ebba Adielsson (SVT/Sweden) (Eurovision 2024 Executive Producer)
- David Tseruyan ( AMPTV) – Invited Member
- Tomislav Stengl (HRT)- Invited Member
Hence we have 5 Heads of Delegation in the Reference Group: Portugal, Denmark, Netherlands, Armenia and Croatia.
The Refence Group
The Reference Group was formed by the European Broadcasting Union’s Television Committee in 1998. The Group meets up 5-6 times a year.
The main tasks of the body include approving format developments and changes to the rules, securing financing, modernizing the brand and raising awareness of the Eurovision Song Contest and overseeing the yearly preparation by the Host Broadcaster.
The Reference Group is composed of a Chairman, three members elected by the Heads of Delegation, two Executive Producers from previous host countries, as well as the Executive Producer of the current Host Broadcaster. The EBU’s Eurovision Song Contest Executive Supervisor is also a member of the Reference Group.
The Reference Group has a possibility to invite up to 2 extra professionals to join the group.
