RTVE’s decision to withdraw from the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest and, most absurdly, not to broadcast the contest’s concerts. It constitutes an act of censorship inappropriate for a mature democracy.
Spaniards who want to watch the final on May 16 in Vienna will have to turn to a VPN, YouTube, foreign channels, or perhaps, in an unintended historical nod, travel to Perpignan, as their fathers and grandfathers did during the Franco regime to watch films the dictatorship deemed morally unacceptable.
Comparison is not free. Because the government and RTVE channel management consider Israel’s participation in the song contest “obscene.”
Moral obscenity, of course, not sexual.
But the result is the same. Spanish citizens will be deprived of a festival watched by millions of Europeans every year Because the authorities decided they shouldn’t see it.
It is state paternalism in its purest form.
The contradictions of this decision are so obvious that it is difficult to take it seriously as a coherent political gesture.
Because RTVE, for example, unhesitatingly broadcast the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September, where Israel normally competed.
For its part, the controversial Vuelta a España included the Israel-Premier Tech team. Although Somar’s ministers celebrated the clashes against Israeli cyclists, no one suggested stopping the broadcast of the race.
But the Eurovision Song Festival seems unbearable.
Even more striking. The 2026 Benidorm festival, which has so far served as the Spanish representative’s selection at Eurovision, will be held as planned, and no one really knows why, with its 18 performers already selected and a €150,000 prize for the winner.
RTVE says the contest has “its own identity” separate from Eurovision. This is such a weak argument that it does not even deserve a response. The Benidorm Festival, no matter how many similarities you want to find with the San Remo Festival, Exists solely and exclusively as a Eurovision pre-selection.
The decision also comes in a suspicious context. Because there has been a ceasefire in Gaza since October. The hostages have been released. Although hostilities have not stopped completely, they have decreased significantly compared to previous months.
So If the boycott was intended to pressure an end to the war, it is too late.
If it intends to punish Israel for its past actions, we face not a temporary protest, but a general rejection of the Jewish state. This has nothing to do with a specific humanitarian crisis.
Spain is one of the founding countries of Eurovision. He made his debut in 1961 with Conchita Batista He participated continuously for sixty-five years. It is part of the Big Five, the select group of the largest contributors who fund the festival.
Leaving the competition now is tantamount to boycotting an institution Spain helped build.
This incident, as if that were not enough, coincides with another example of the government’s prioritization. The Women’s Institute of the Ministry of Equality has just launched an initiative to eradicate the term “charro” from the mouths of Spaniards, which it describes as “Digital Misogyny Tool”.
This is commendable, without a doubt, at a time when the Socialist Workers’ Party faces serious accusations of silencing sexual harassment complaints against it. Francisco Salazarone of my closest collaborators Pedro Sanchez. The complaints mysteriously disappeared from the party’s bylaws and Wednesday’s emergency meeting with the unions’ equality secretaries It ended with microphones being silenced and widespread outrage.
Contradiction is devastating. A government interested in eliminating the insulting nickname that was born on the Internet… While their reporting channels act as scandal breakers.
An executive that legislates based on the consent of others while covering up abuses in Moncloa.
And public television censoring a music festival while pontificating about freedoms and moral highs to which Spaniards don’t seem to be invited.
It is true that Jose Pablo LopezRTVE president RTVE had no elegant way to overturn the decision to boycott Eurovision after the measure was approved by an absolute majority by the public television board last September.
It is true that this retreat would have been exploited by government partners to launch a new conflict with Sanchez on behalf of Israel, at a particularly sensitive moment for him.
But Spaniards deserve to decide for themselves whether they want to watch Eurovision.
They deserve public television that provides information and entertainment, not one that imposes moral standards on what programs are acceptable and who should or should not participate in them based on the propaganda needs of the prime minister.
Whoever wants to boycott the festival can turn off the TV. But depriving millions of citizens of the ability to watch a program they have been following for decades It is an act of political arrogance that harkens back to a time we thought was over..
Perpignan is located only 180 kilometers from Barcelona. In case anyone needs information.