Road to Rotterdam: Romania

It’s time for another weekly update on Eurovision. Big developments are underway as the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 takes shape. The EBU’s Reference Group has welcomed a new member to help steer the contest’s future. National selection season is kicking off. Luxembourg has completed a unique “team-up” submission phase. Austria is bringing back a televised national final. Ukraine is consulting fans on how to improve its selection process. Switzerland just opened its song submission window. Meanwhile, Cyprus confirmed its participation for 2026, and buzz is building about a possible Eurovision comeback for a former Belgian star. Here are this week’s top stories: Reference Group Welcomes New Member Ahead of Eurovision 2026 The Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group, the committee that guides contest strategy, has a new addition. Michael Krön, Executive Producer for Eurovision 2026, has officially joined the Reference Group as the representative of host broadcaster ORF. Krön is the Chief Producer at ORF and will oversee the 70th edition of the contest in Austria, filling the spot reserved for the upcoming host country. His appointment means the Reference Group now once again has all host broadcaster positions filled. source: EBU Luxembourg: ‘Team-Up’ Phase Completed for Eurovision 2026 Selection Luxembourg’s journey to Eurovision 2026 is well underway. The Luxembourg Song Contest 2026 introduced a special “team-up” initiative to pair artists with songwriters. Applications for this team-up process have now closed as of August 4. This allowed Luxembourgish artists without a song to connect with local or international songwriters (and vice versa), forming teams to create entries. Those newly formed teams have until September 21 to complete their songs and submit them through the main selection window. Once the submission window closes on September 21, all entries will be reviewed. Successful candidates will be invited to audition in front of an international expert jury in October. This jury will then select the finalists for the national final. The winner of that final will earn the chance to represent Luxembourg in Eurovision’s 70th edition. source: eurovoix.com 📷 EBU/Corinne Cumming Austria Brings Back a National Final for 2026 Austria: ORF will stage a televised national final to choose the Eurovision 2026 entry. The broadcaster announced a late‑February 2026 show. Ten acts will compete for the ticket to Eurovision. Austria returns to a public selection on home soil, a big TV evening with plenty of audience involvement. Televoters and professional juries will decide the winner. ORF invites artists and bands to apply, and an internal panel will then select the ten finalists. ORF will share the exact date and format in the coming months. The broadcaster is also finalizing hosting duties, Vienna or Innsbruck, and plans to announce the host city later in August. source: ORF 📷 ORF/Thomas Ramstorfer Ukraine’s Broadcaster Seeks Fan Input on Eurovision Strategy Suspilne, Ukraine’s public broadcaster, took an innovative step this week by holding a listening session with Eurovision fans in Kyiv. The Head of Delegation Oksana Skybinska and popular Eurovision commentator Timur Miroshnychenko attended the meeting to hear feedback on how Ukraine approaches the contest. The goal was to discuss ways to improve Ukraine’s national selection process for Eurovision. Ukraine has tried various selection methods since its debut in 2003. This fan-inclusive discussion suggests the broadcaster is considering changes to keep up its strong Eurovision track record. Notably, Ukraine has not yet publicly confirmed its participation in Eurovision 2026. If it does take part in Austria next year, it will be Ukraine’s first Eurovision in Austria, as the country sat out the 2015 contest. For now, Suspilne is proactively gathering ideas on how to make their Eurovision entry as successful as possible. source: Suspilne Switzerland Opens Song Submission Window for 2026 Switzerland has officially opened the search for its Eurovision 2026 song. Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR began accepting song submissions on August 4, and the window will remain open until August 25, 2025. Songwriters, artists, and producers are invited to send in their entries (up to five per artist/team). Once the submission period closes, Switzerland will hold multiple audition rounds to select its entry. The selection process will mirror last year’s approach: a Swiss audience jury, an international audience jury, and an international expert jury (comprised of 25 former Eurovision national jurors) will evaluate the songs in several stages. Through this combination of domestic and international feedback, the Swiss entry for Eurovision 2026 will be chosen, with the winning song and artist set to be revealed in early 2026. Switzerland will be aiming to continue its recent success, after finishing 10th in 2025 on home ground in Basel. source: Eurovoix 📷 EBU/Alma Bengtsson Cyprus Confirms Eurovision 2026 Participation The list of countries committing to Eurovision 2026 keeps growing. This week Cyprus officially joined the party for next year’s contest in Austria. Cypriot broadcaster CyBC confirmed that Cyprus will compete at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. Cyprus thus becomes one of the early confirmed participants for the 70th Eurovision edition. It’s not yet known how the Cypriot entry will be selected – the broadcaster hasn’t announced whether it will opt for an internal selection or a national final for 2026. (In recent years, CyBC has often chosen its artist and song internally.) More details on Cyprus’s Eurovision 2026 project are expected in due course. The Mediterranean nation has yet to win Eurovision, but it will be hoping that 2026 might finally be the year to go one better than its best-ever 2nd place finish in 2018. source: esctoday.com Other News in Brief Belgium: Rumors swirled this week that Loïc Nottet, Belgium’s 2015 Eurovision star and fourth-place finisher in Vienna, could return in 2026. French media reported that RTBF had internally chosen him. RTBF denied the report, saying it hasn’t selected an artist for 2026 and is still running its usual selection process. Belgium has not yet officially confirmed its participation. For now, a Loïc Nottet comeback is only a rumor; officials say they haven’t made any decisions about the 2026 entry. source: Het Nieuwsblad That’s all for this