BHRT, the Bosnian national broadcaster announced yesterday in a press release on its official website that Bosnia & Herzegovina will not participate at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. Hence the country will miss the competition for a 2nd year in a row.
Last November BHRT had confirmed to esctoday.com its intention to compete at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest after officially sending its participation application to the EBU. The broadcaster stated that it would look for external sponsorship in order to return to the contest in 2014 and participate.
Yesterday the board of directors of BHRT had a meeting in Sarajevo in order to discuss the broadcaster’s financial plan for 2014, where it was decided that due to financial reasons BHRT will not participate at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen. The plans for external sponsorship to finance the Bosnian Eurovision participation did not materialise.
BHRT’s Steering Committee will do its best to provide its citizens a live transmission of the Eurovision Song Contest next year.
With Bosnia & Herzegovina’s withdrawal we are now left with 37 countries who have officially applied for participate at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. It is yet unclear if any more countries will withdraw from the competition. The intial date for countries to withdraw their application without a penalty was set on 15 December 2014. The official list of participants for Eurovision 2014 will be released by early January by the EBU.
Bosnia & Herzegovina withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013 due to financial reasons. We will not see a Bosnian participation in the contest for a 2nd year in a row. Bosnia & Herzegovina last participated in the event in 2012 and Maya Saar represented the country in Baku.
Maya Saar – Bosnia Herzegovina Eurovision 2012
Bosnia & Herzegovina debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993 with Fazla’s Sva bol svijeta and is yet to win the contest. The country’s best placing was a 3rd place in 2006 with Hari Mata Hari‘s Lejla.
Stay tuned to esctoday.com for the latest information on Bosnia & Herzegovina and the Eurovision Song Contest.
