Slovenia Threatens to Pull Out of Eurovision – Unless the EBU Gets Its Act Together

If the European Broadcasting Union was hoping for a quiet summer after a rather turbulent Eurovision 2025, it might want to think again. The director of Slovenia’s public broadcaster RTVSLO, Ksenija Horvat, has just sent a rather sternly-worded letter to the EBU’s Executive Board — and it doesn’t read like a love note.

In her statement, Horvat expresses growing concerns over Israel’s continued participation in Eurovision events, citing both humanitarian issues in Gaza and increasing public dissatisfaction across Europe. She recalls that similar concerns were already voiced last year, only to be met with vague, non-committal responses. Spoiler alert: they didn’t improve over time.

What’s more, Horvat doesn’t mince her words when it comes to this year’s voting results. She describes them as having «further undermined public trust» and stresses that as a public service broadcaster, RTVSLO is under pressure to take a stand.

And here’s the punchline: if the EBU doesn’t take concrete steps to address these ethical and transparency concerns, Slovenia might reconsider its participation in future editions of Eurovision. Yes, you read that right — Ljubljana may not be handing out douze points in 2026.

Horvat calls for an urgent and inclusive discussion involving not just EBU members, but also artists and civil society. She even dares ask the forbidden question: why is there so much mystery around televoting and online voting data? One can almost hear the gentle rattling of spreadsheets being locked in some Geneva vault.

In short, Slovenia is done playing polite. Unless the EBU shows it can walk the talk when it comes to transparency and public trust, the Alpine nation might just become neutral in the voting booth.

Source: RTVSLO