Last Thursday, RTVE He made an unprecedented decision. For the first time in 65 years, Spain will not participate in Eurovision. Our country’s withdrawal from the musical competition, which is celebrating its 70th edition this year in Vienna (Austria), comes after the Union … The European Broadcasting Organization (EBU) remains in the competition Israel.
THE assembly of the EBU put to the vote on Thursday (738 votes for, 264 against and 120 abstentions) the approval of the new regulations of the festival which, implicitly, legitimized the continuity of Israel in Eurovision, after having refused to carry out a specific vote on the participation of the country.
The RTVE board of directors thus decided to comply with what had been agreed and Spain became the only member of the “Big Five” to announce its withdrawal from the competition. A decision they later joined in Slovenia, Netherlands and Ireland.
“Eurovision is not a song contest but a festival dominated by geopolitical interests and fractured,” said the president of RTVE in X, Jose Pablo Lopezminutes after releasing the statement.
Spain’s departure from the festival means that RTVE will not broadcast the Eurovision 2026 finalwhich will take place on May 16, nor the previous semi-finals of the competition, which will take place on May 12 and 14. However, he maintains the celebration of Benidorm Festival, which served as a preselection for the festival during the last four editions.
Regardless, Spain’s withdrawal from Eurovision has become one of the hot topics of recent days, generating great debate between those who agree with the decision and those who consider it to be an error by RTVE.
Juan del Val criticizes Spain’s withdrawal from Eurovision
One of the faces of television who wanted to speak out on this issue was Juan del Val. The winner of the Planeta 2025 Prize spoke last Saturday on “La Roca”, the La Sexta show, on RTVE’s controversial decision, even if the talk show host admitted not having “a clear opinion”.
“I think there was a moment when I declared that the protests with the Vuelta Ciclista a España were necessary and useful, like when we threatened to boycott,” said Del Val, for whom, now that “there is a peace agreement signed“I don’t know if it’s exactly time to go or not.”
Juan del Val in “The Rock”
The writer, who admitted not having seen “one minute of Eurovision in my entire life” and giving the competition “a bit of the same”, estimated in the program presented by Nuria Roca that, if RTVE’s decision “serves as a measure of pressure, it does not matter”, even if he was direct: “I don’t know if it works.”.
Furthermore, the television collaborator criticized RTVE’s double standards when it came to not doing the same with sporting events. “Eurovision yes and the World Cup no? Not that of Athletics? Israel did not qualify for the FIFA World Cup, but is playing there, as is Spain. How cool are we?“, he assured.
A few minutes later, Del Val once again insisted on this paradox. “Why Eurovision yes and other events no? Because maybe we need to ask ourselves who makes this decision, what is it? what really suits you and what affects it, beyond the final cause, and that’s what I agree with,” he said.
After recognizing that “we must protest” against “all the atrocities that Israel has committed”, the writer wanted to close the debate with a criticism of Governmentto whom he alluded to assure that “if it is decided – even if it is really RTVE which is in charge – that Spain will not go to Eurovision, for example a question of consistencyif it’s really for a cause he believes in, maybe “He must leave all competitions.”
“If it has to be done, it must always be done and in any case whether or not it suits the government. This is what it means to believe in a cause,” concluded Del Val.
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