As the list of participating countries in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest is starting to form, It was announced earlier today that BHRT chose to stay out of the Contest for the fifth year in a row. The main reasons for this are sanctions on behalf of the EBU, due to the broadcaster’s financial debt towards them, as well as the unstable economic situation the broadcaster is in nowadays. Bosnia & Herzegovina joins Turkey, Slovakia, Morroco, Luxembourg, Monaco and Andorra as the countries which will surely not make a return to the Contest in 2021.

The Balkan country competed for the last time to date in Stockholm in 2016 after withdrawing between the years 2013 and 2015. At that time the country failed to qualify for the first time in its history in the contest as it came 11th with 104 points. Bosnia and Herzegovina debuted as an independent country in 1993 while the country was in the heart of a war. Between the years 1961-1992 the country participated as a part of Yugoslavia. Yet, a Bosnian artist represented the country five times only.

Let’s step back to the last time to date the Bosnia participated in the contest: