Mona Keijzer criticizes AVROTROS for boycotting Israel, urging a Netherlands comeback for Eurovision 2027 amidst Omroep MAX interest.
Mona Keijzer, a member of the Dutch Parliament for the BBB party, criticized the decision of the Dutch national broadcaster AVROTROS to withdraw from the competition held two months ago and join the boycott against Israel, along with four other nations. Keijzer called on the national broadcaster to reconsider its position regarding the possible participation of the country in Eurovision 2027.
Keijzer argued that the political stances of a public national broadcaster should not determine whether a country participates in a music competition. Keijzer also accused AVROTROS of inconsistency regarding other international conflicts: “We have never heard anything about Azerbaijan, where an ethnic cleansing has just taken place”.
A Possible Comeback?
The return of The Netherlands has seemed possible in recent weeks but remains uncertain. The Dutch national broadcasters NPO and AVROTROS issued a joint statement a day after the Eurovision 2026 final, making it clear that their future in Eurovision 2027 – which is expected to be held in Bulgaria – is under a major question mark. At NPO, they defined the latest Eurovision as “turbulent and eventful,” emphasizing that only after a deep analysis of the EBU’s conclusions would they sit down with AVROTROS to decide if conditions on the ground have changed enough to justify a comeback.
About a week later, the national broadcaster Omroep MAX dropped a bombshell, declaring its willingness to take the place of the boycotting broadcaster and secure the participation of The Netherlands in the coming years. According to reports in the local media, Omroep MAX is the only broadcaster within the Dutch public broadcasting system showing active interest in returning to the competition. With the announcement of the desire to produce the entry, it was also clarified by the national broadcaster that it does not intend to fund the participation – which will cost around half a million euros – from its own private budget.
Financial Challenges Ahead
The broadcaster’s CEO, Jan Slagter, discussed covering a significant portion of the costs with the public national broadcaster NPO. However, it now appears that NPO is also not in a position to cover them, due to government cuts and reforms.
These recent developments come shortly before AVROTROS is expected to provide an update, by the end of August, on whether it intends to return to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2027 or continue its boycott policy.
The Netherlands at Eurovision 2025
“C’est La Vie” is the title of the song performed by Claude, who represented the Netherlands at Eurovision 2025. The Netherlands qualified for the Grand Final after placing third in the first semi-final with 121 points. In the Grand Final, the Netherlands finished in 12th place with 175 points, with the jury awarding the country fifth place, but the public at home ranking it only 15th.
This year, the Netherlands participated in the Grand Final after two years of missing out. In 2023, Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper failed to qualify from the semi-final, while in 2024, Joost Klein was disqualified after the semi-final due to a violent incident involving the competition’s production team.
Eurovision 2025: This was the Netherlands’ 65th participation in Eurovision. The Netherlands joined the competition in 1956, was one of the seven founding countries, and has won it five times over the years. The Netherlands’ last victory was at Eurovision 2019 with the song “Arcade” performed by singer Duncan Laurence.
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Maor Heumann has been writing about the Eurovision Song Contest and following it for over three decades. He has attended five contests and has found something to appreciate in almost every possible musical genre — from the sugary pop entries that finish last in the semi-finals to the quirky avant-garde pieces that even the competition’s juries struggled to connect with. He usually prefers original languages and songs with depth over Swedish-produced English clones — though he doesn’t promise to stick to that rule.
He grew up on the kibbutz of Sara’le Sharon, who instilled in him a love for music and created his first connection to the contest back in 1993 — before most of the current editorial team was even born.
