There were four changes in the line-up of Romania’s Selectia Nationala 2019 in the last couple of weeks, with the latest one being last night – Mihai Traistariu withdrew due to the “objectivity of the organizers, and favoritism towards some artists”. Now TVR made a statement about the whole process.

First Dan Bittman (the first ever Eurovision entrant for Romania) withdrew from the competition due to his other commitments abroad, which are set in the same dates as the Romanian Final, leaving 23 acts in the competition. TVR decided to have another call for songs, in order to award a wildcard. The same preselection jury listened to the newly received entries, and selected two wildcards – Bella Santiago and her song “Army Of Love” and Linda Teodosiu with “Renegades”, bringing the number of participants up to 25. Last night Mihai Traistariu (who already represented Romania in Eurovision 2006) has withdrawn from the competition, making it once again a contest of 24 acts (read the full statement of Mihai Traistariu here).

TVR has now made the following statement on the whole process of Selectia Nationala:

Selectia Nationala is organised for the purpose of finding the representative of Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest, the act with the greatest potential who will then achieve the best possible result in this international prestigious competition.

Eurovision is a contest where the talented and strong win, but first of all, they remain in the race accepting the challenge of competition. Any artist is free to sign up or, where appropriate, give up and withdraw.

TVR organises the national selection in the spirit of transparency, with the whole rules and regulations being published with the launch of entries on the official website. The selection of wildcards was made by the same jury on the basis of the same criteria as at the preselection.

We are glad that there was a great interest for wildcards as well as for the preselection, and the two acts which qualified this way will bring more value to the national selection.

Surely, the competition will be more intense, the show will be more exciting, and Eurovision fans will only have to gain.

Selectia Nationala 2019 will consist of three shows – two semi finals and a Grand Final. The semi finals are going to take place in Iasi on the 27th of January and in Arad on the 10th of February, whilst the Grand Final will take place in Bucharest on the 17th of February.