After a long wait with a lot of speculation the Dutch broadcaster, AVROTROS, has today confirmed that the Netherlands will compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 set to be held in Basel, Switzerland.
The decision had been delayed from the initial deadline set for broadcasters while AVROTROS remained in discussions with the EBU over changes that they felt should be made to the competition following the infamous edition in Malmo that saw the Netherlands disqualified controversially.
After the second semi-final it was alleged that the Dutch representative was involved in an altercation with a member of the production staff and subsequently the EBU made the decision to disqualify Joost Klein from the competition. In their statement released today AVROTROS confirmed that they had offered Joost Klein the opportunity to represent them in 2025 but he has chosen to decline this offer.
AVROTROS stated that their reason for participating is that they are satisfied with the changes that have been made to the competition notably:
- appointing a safety manager in the artist environment
- severely reducing behind the scenes filiming
- a “safe space” for artists behind the scenes where they will not be disturbed
- a crisis team consisting of representatives of the EBU, participating countries and the organising broadcaster, so that important decisions are taken democratically
- appointment of Martin Green as new Eurovision director
The added that they were hopeful and have confidence in the renewal of the contest.
Song submissions
The broadcaster also confirmed that since Joost had declined their invitation to be the countries representative that the process was underway for finding the countries next participant. They have opened song submissions for the contest and artists are invited to submit their applications until Friday 22 November.
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