Last week Norway’s VG newspaper reported that six countries were poised to withdraw from the Eurovision 2024 grand final — and with just 25 minutes left before the show. The countries it said might walk were: Switzerland, Norway, Greece, Portugal, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
But that list is getting shorter by the day. Management behind iolanda — Portugal’s Eurovision singer — have come out to deny this. And that follows a denial from Switzerland’s Head of Delegation too.
Greece’s broadcaster ERT previously denied the report that it planned to withdraw. Speaking to the Eurovisionfun web site, ERT said: “We never discussed or considered withdrawing from the competition for any reason. The publication (VG) is incorrect at least when it comes to Greece.”
Portugal and Switzerland deny they planned to withdraw from Eurovision
Portugal’s iolanda painted her finger nails with Palestinian motifs for the grand final, an action that seemingly led the EBU to delay uploading her performance to the official YouTube channel. But despite her show of support for the people of Gaza, her management say she did not have plans to withdraw from Eurovision ahead of the grand final.
Rita Barradas, who runs the agency that represents iolanda, told Expresso more.
“As far as Portugal is concerned, it was never a question of us withdrawing from the contest, or having spoken to the EBU in that regard, much less 25 minutes before the start of the show. There were many controversial issues in this edition, but Portugal’s withdrawal on the day of the final, was never put on the table.”
Switzerland — a massive favourite to win the contest in the months leading up to the final — has also denied that the broadcaster planned to withdraw.
Yves Schifferle, Switzerland’s Head of Delegation, confirmed to Watson that meetings with the EBU did take place. However, the broadcaster, which is responsible for participation, did not lead these meetings. Instead those were led by the singer Nemo.
“It wasn’t up for debate that the Swiss delegation would withdraw from the ESC,” he said. “Some acts sought talks with the EBU regarding certain etiquette in the backstage area.”
