Eurovision suffers its worst crisis in 70 years due to the boycott of Israel's participation.

The Eurovision Song Contest is suffering, suffering the worst crisis in the competition's 70-year history. This is the opinion of María-Paz López, Eurovision expert and correspondent for La Vanguardia in Berlin, in the video preceding this article. In conversation with Enric Sierra, deputy director of La Vanguardia , López details the political, economic, and image-related consequences for the festival of the boycott by several countries, including Spain , of participating in the contest if Israel participates. This controversy has also raised doubts about the future of the television competition.

María-Paz López describes the aforementioned boycott of the festival as a "serious crisis" and explains the measures being taken by the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) to prevent an escalation of support for the boycott of Israel as a result of the deadly military offensive in Gaza, which has been described as genocide even by the UN .

María-Paz López recalls that this boycott is the largest in the festival's history, much larger than Austria's absence from Madrid (1969) in protest against the Franco dictatorship or Russia's expulsion (2022) after the latest invasion of Ukraine.

The negative economic effects of the boycott on the festival are also significant. Spain is one of the five countries that contribute the most money to the event, and if it withdraws from the competition, it will not only stop contributing, but will also stop broadcasting the festival. This will impact the festival's global audience and revenue from public televoting, as Spain is one of the largest European countries with a population of nearly 50 million.

The EBU will decide in December what to do with Israel's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Vienna in May. Until then, the list of countries that will boycott Israel's participation could grow. However, María-Paz López believes there won't be many more and that key countries, such as Germany and host Austria, will maintain their support for Israel.