José Pablo López has announced that he will propose to the broadcaster’s Board of Directors that Spain’s suspension from the Eurovision Song Contest be maintained for the 2027 edition.
López made the announcement during his regular appearance before the parliamentary committee overseeing RTVE, where he was questioned by Sumar MP Francisco Sierra about the European Broadcasting Union’s response to the situation facing the Palestinian people.
The RTVE president recalled that, throughout the past year, the Spanish public broadcaster has worked alongside other major European public broadcasters to demand what he described as an ethical renewal within the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
He said RTVE had also pushed “firmly” for stricter governance rules, measures against any attempt at political instrumentalisation, and strict neutrality in sponsorships and in the contest itself.
An evident ethical issue remains
However, López acknowledged that not all of RTVE’s objectives have been achieved.
He said it would be wrong to “make up reality with euphemisms”, pointing to what he described as the “deeply painful” fact that Israel’s public broadcaster will continue to participate in the organisation of the contest despite the changes negotiated within the EBU.
For López, the progress made on technical and governance matters does not justify what he called a “complacent assessment” of the situation.
“There is an evident pending issue on the ethical front,” he said.
It is against this backdrop that López announced his intention to ask RTVE’s Board of Directors to maintain the suspension of the broadcaster’s participation in Eurovision in 2027.
The proposal will now have to be considered by the RTVE Board of Directors.
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