Although The Netherlands is one of the countries that will not enter next year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna (Austria) when Israel competes, even when there would be a cease-fire or peace negotiations between Gaza and Israel.
The search continues
There are ten songs, and subsequent, artists still in the race to compete for the Netherlands whenever this country decides on competing in Eurovision 2026.
During a popular Dutch TV talk-show annual Dutch Eurovision commentator, Cornald Maas, revealed that 300 songs were submitted to compete for this country in the upcoming contest; of these songs ten are still eligible to compete. Since the Dutch song submission window closed in August of this year there have been live performances in front of the Dutch Eurovision commission to see and hear who was continuing on to the next round.
Cornald Maas also elaborated a little more on the matter by saying the following:
“Among the artists who submitted a song there are small names, but also big names. There are still nine to ten contenders in the race. I have to admit that there are good songs among the artists that are still in the running, although I am not as enthusiastic as last year with Claude.
We tell the artists that we will continue to see who is the most suitable to represent our country, but we also tell them that there is a chance that we will not send them to Austria.”
The Dutch stance
The Netherlands will wait for the results of the vote among the 68 members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). When at least half of the members vote against Israel competing the country will not be granted to compete. The Netherlands has already decided on not competing at all, no matter what the situation is, when Israel is able to compete in the upcoming 70th Eurovision Song Contest.
The Netherlands in Eurovision 2025
In the contest of 2025 the Netherlands was represented by Claude with the French-English song, “C’est la Vie”. Claude came in third place (of 15) in Semi-Final 1, and eventually took 12th place (of 26) in the 2025 Grand Final.
Eurovision 2026
The upcoming Eurovision Song Contest will be a jubilee, as it is the 70th edition. The contest will be held in the capital of Austria, Vienna, in the Wiener Stadthalle to be precise, on 12, 14, and 16 May 2026. To date 24 countries have confirmed their participation.