PARTICIPATING in the Eurovision Song Contest is a massive honour for many singers.
In 2023 Bulgaria will not participate in the song contest, read on to find out why.
Why isn't Bulgaria in Eurovision 2023?
The grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest is happening on Saturday, May 13, 2023.
There are 37 countries taking part, the lowest number of participating countries since 2014.
Bulgaria is one of the countries not participating, due to financial reasons.
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The Bulgarian official broadcaster Bulgarian National Television tweeted the OGAE Greece saying:
"Bulgaria will not be taking part at Eurovision 2023 and most probably in the future editions as well.
"After analysis it was decided that this program does not present an interest for the broadcaster any longer.”
Which other countries are not performing in Eurovision 2023?
Bulgaria is not the only European nation that withdrew from the popular singing contest.
Montenegro and North Macedonia both announced within a day of each other that they would not be participating.
Monaco, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Luxembourg and Slovenia also announced that they would not be taking part.
Which countries are taking part in Eurovision 2023?
In order to participate in Eurovision, the country must have a national broadcaster with active EBU membership.
This membership means that they will be able to broadcast the competition via the Eurovision network.
There is also a fee to participate, the official amount for each country is not known, but it is believed that the fee is around €5 million.
The 37 countries billed to participate are:
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- Albania
- Australia
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belgium
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Georgia
- Germany
- Greece
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Malta
- Moldova
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
These nations will compete in two rounds of semi finals in Liverpool on May 9 2023 and May 11 2023.
The grand final will also happen in Liverpool on May 13, 2023.
There will be 31 nations participating in the semi finals to find out which 10 nations will join the big five in the grand final.
The big five are Ukraine, the last Eurovision winner, the United Kingdom as the hosts and also France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
