THE HAGUE, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Netherlands will participate in the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest, Dutch public broadcasting organization NPO announced on Wednesday.
Last month, Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS said it would not participate in next year's Eurovision Song Contest, arguing that the event could no longer be considered neutral while a participating country remains involved in a large-scale military conflict.
"During the discussions that followed AVROTROS's withdrawal, we agreed with the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) to once again put the festival's original purpose at the heart of the event," NPO said in a statement.
"We have explicitly asked the EBU to make the unifying character of the contest a central part of the event again, in recognition of a time of geopolitical unrest, war and polarization," said Jet de Ranitz, chair of the NPO Board.
The 2027 Eurovision Song Contest will take place in May in the Bulgarian city of Burgas.
The Netherlands, along with four other countries, has boycotted the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest in Austria over Israel's participation, exposing widening cracks across Europe.
