(s. guraziu – ars poetica, october 27, 2026)
…everything we’ve said up to now has gone down the drain and can rust away – the Netherlands has now definitively said “NO” to Eurovision 2027 : )
…one month ago (on September 23, 2026), the Netherlands seemed to have changed its mind about not taking part in Eurovision, and I wrote that, after all, “Yes,” we would participate in Eurovision 2027! That’s what the news was saying, on TV and everywhere else. I even joked that Dutch politics had never shown such “elastic” flexibility : )
The flexibility was proven 100% – but it turned out to be even more complicated than we thought. Now, one month later (October 27, 2026), the news has surprised us again: NPO is now saying “NO” after all. Apparently, they couldn’t find anyone who would “agree” to participate. So the news from a month ago is now “invalidated,” and once again it’s “NO” for Eurovision 2027!
I hope this is the most final, most definitive decision. We’ve said “No”, we’ve said “Yes”, we’ve changed our minds, we’ve had doubts, we’ve thought it over, we’ve accepted, rejected, agreed… and still, everything we’ve said up to now has gone down the drain and can rust away – the Netherlands has now definitively said “NO” to Eurovision 2027 : )
***
The “definitive no” barely had time to settle before it became the evening’s big TV discussion. In one of such “TV tables” yesterday evening… we had a classic TV-panel escalation, one woman was saying why then not boycot Olympics too, if we’re drawing this line here, why not draw it everywhere?
Her point was a fair question about consistency, though the Olympics and Eurovision are run by different organizations, of course those events have different rules and pressures.
Nevertheless, at this point, the Netherlands’ Eurovision decision has more plot twists than the contest itself : ) Since we have so many months to go, May 2027… we have plenty of room to “change” our mind again. You never know, and we should never say never, there’s definitely time for another plot twist : )
Even though, my guess is that our “no” is more likely to hold than not, because this time it wasn’t just a change of mood – NPO said it couldn’t find a suitable arrangement or a broadcaster willing to support the project. It also sounds less like “never again” and more like “not this time”, since NPO said the Netherlands could return when the broadcasters and audiences feel the time is right. So I wouldn’t bet against a surprise “yes” if the circumstances shift.
Lets say, by some miracle wars stop, peace prevails, everything quite and fine, then imagine we have still 4 months to go… absolutely a twist can happen (remember our “elasticity”). If the situation changed dramatically, 4 months could suddenly feel like plenty of time for a Eurovision U-turn. The “definitive no” might then turn into “well… maybe after all”. Cause in Eurovision, never say never!
To the world may seem quite funny, but for us Dutch is a very complex process when it comes to deciding about song contests : ) It’s not just choosing “yes” or “no” – there’s the broadcaster, the politics, public opinion, the song, the whole Eurovision circus. So 4 months could be both a very long time for opinions to change and a very short time to actually get everything ready!
The Netherlands nevertheless says “YES” to Eurovision 2027!
(s. guraziu – ars poetica, september 23, 2026)
…In December 2025, I wrote that the Netherlands had definitively said “No” to Eurovision 2026! For the first time in 24 years, the Netherlands would sit out this European music competition. The reason was INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: since Israel was allowed to take part in Eurovision 2026, several countries would withdraw, including the Netherlands, as well as Spain, one of Eurovision’s “Big Five.” Broadcaster AVRO-TROS announced that the Netherlands would not take part in Eurovision 2026…
…and so it happened. We were saddened by the political turmoil and the wars around the world, and resolutely said “bye” to Eurovision. In other words, the Netherlands, Iceland, Ireland, Slovenia, and Spain chose not to participate in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza. This would be the largest number of countries to boycott Eurovision in its history, since 1970…