Junior Eurovision 2019: No return for Croatia and Slovenia – The map of confirmed participating countries so far
Just nearly a month after Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv and The Netherlands’ victory with Duncan Laurence, the national broadcasters across Europe clear their intentions on the following Junior Eurovision 2019 next November in Poland. Among others Croatia and Slovenia are the latest countries that have confirmed their non participation in the next contest.
Croatia
The Croatian national broadcaster , HRT, has confirmed that the country will not be participating in the forthcoming Junior Eurovision Song Contest. HRT stated that due to the lack of budget the broadcaster can’t live up to the cost that a participation requires. Therefore Croatia cannot return to the contest under these circumstances.
The last time Croatia participated in Junior Eurovision was in 2014 with Josie and the song “Game Over” in Malta, which came last with 13 points. Croatia was among the 16 nations that participated in the first edition of the Junior Eurovision back in 2003 with Dino Jelusić who brought victory for the country with his entry “Ti si moja prva ljubav”.
Slovenia
The Slovenian national broadcaster confirmed that the country will not be returning to the next Junior Eurovision in Poland. RTVSLO stated that the country cannot return to the Junior Eurovision as the high cost of such participation rules out that possibility, while the switch of the broadcasting to an earlier time zone that prime time doesn’t encourage such option.
Slovenia participated in Junior Eurovision 2014 and 2015 and has withdrawn since then. At the 2014 competition in Sofia the country came 3rd with Lina Kuduzović and the song “Prva ljubezen”.
The 2019 Junior Eurovision Song Contest is set to take place on Sunday 24th November in Gliwice, Poland. Until today a total of 11 countries have expressed their interest in participating in the contest:
- Albania
- Australia
- France
- Georgia
- Ireland
- Kazakhstan
- Netherlands
- North Macedonia
- Poland
- Portugal
- Russia
- Wales
The countries that have not officially confirmed but are more than likely to confirm as they attend the Reference Group meeting are:
- Armenia
- Belarus
- Italy
- Malta
On the other hand the countries that have ruled out their participation in Poland are:
- Croatia
- Moldova
- Montenegro
- Slovenia
After Roksana Węgiel’s victory for Poland at the 2018 contest in Minsk with her entry “Anyone I Want To Be” and TVPwinning the bid to host this year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest, Gliwice-Silesia has been chosen as the Host City by TVP after reviewing a row of cities and venues across the country.
Last month during a special joint press conference of EBU and the host broadcaster TVP revealed this year’s logo inviting the world to “Share the joy”. Lets remember Roksana’s winning performance last year in Minsk:
