Bosnia & Herzegovina: No Participation for 2017!
The national broadcaster of Bosnia & Herzegovina, BHRT, confirmed the country’s withdrawal from the next Eurovision Song Contest, in Kyiv.
Returning to the contest in 2016, after two years of absence, Bosnia & Herzegovina decided not to participate in the Eurovision 2017 due to lack of sponsorship that would support the participation as it happened for the 2016’s entry. The country’s national broadcaster has been facing financial problems that have brought insecurity around the broadcaster’s function.
However, Mrs Lejla Babovic from BHRT announced that a return to the contest would be possible in the future years. As she stated to the media:
“Eurovision is a whole machine, not to come and sing a three-minute song. Public service must have a stable source of funding. When we have it, then we can talk about the acquisition of high-quality programs and additional commercialization, additional revenue that might seem base to participate in such large-scale projects”.
For the record, Bosnia & Herzegovina debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest back in 1993. The country participated every single year until 2012 though from 2013 to 2015 stopped participating due to a lack of funds. The country’s best result was achieved in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with Hari Mata Hari and his song Lejla which finished 3rd, scoring 229 points in total.
In 2016, Dalal, Deen, Ana Rucner and Jala represented the country in Stockholm with the song Ljubav je and failed to qualify to the Grand Final.
