EBU bars countries at war from hosting Eurovision

The European Broadcasting Union has changed the rules for hosting the Eurovision Song Contest, making a winning broadcaster automatically ineligible if its state is involved in an armed conflict or a “sensitive geopolitical situation” that materially affects security, safety or stability. According to Euronews, the EBU announced the update on Wednesday. The Guardian reports the change follows feedback from participating broadcasters after a period in which the contest has repeatedly been pulled into disputes over war and legitimacy.

Eurovision is built around a simple bargain: the winning country earns the right—and takes on the cost and risk—of staging next year’s show. That model works when politics stays at the level of flags and voting blocs, but it breaks down when security planning becomes inseparable from foreign policy. The EBU’s new language broadens the trigger beyond active fighting to “any other situation” that affects stability in the host state or its immediate region, and it allows the union to commission an independent security assessment before deciding whether a winner can host.

The rule change formalises what Eurovision has already practised ad hoc. Ukraine won in 2022 but could not host the following year because of Russia’s full-scale invasion; the 2023 contest was staged in Liverpool instead, with the EBU citing the impossibility of completing the roughly 12 months of preparation required. By writing those contingencies into the rulebook, the EBU is trying to turn a one-off exception into a predictable process: if a winner is ruled ineligible, another host broadcaster is appointed and assumes “all rights, obligations and liabilities,” without staging the event “on behalf of” the displaced winner.

The timing also reflects the contest’s internal strains. Five countries—Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland—boycotted the 2026 edition in Vienna after organisers declined to exclude Israel over its war in Gaza and violence in the West Bank, according to both the Guardian and Euronews. Israel has competed since 1973 and finished second in both 2025 and 2026, leaving the EBU facing a familiar problem: a competition that markets itself as apolitical must still decide which conflicts are disqualifying, and for what purpose.

Alongside hosting rules, the EBU has also raised the minimum age for participating artists from 16 to 18, the Guardian reports. Eurovision’s audience remains vast—about 130 million viewers watched the 2026 final, down from 160 million in 2025—yet the EBU is simultaneously planning expansion, including a Eurovision Asia spin-off in Bangkok and Canada joining as the first new participant since Australia in 2015.

The EBU’s statement did not name any country. It did specify that if the winner cannot host, the replacement host takes over the show in its own right—and takes the liabilities with it.