North Macedonia’s broadcaster, MRT, have confirmed that the nation will not compete at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool.
The news that North Macedonia have withdrawn from the 67th Eurovision Song Contest comes following similar news, late last night, that Montenegro had withdrawn. Unless we get any returnee or debut countries, in Liverpool, that means that there will now be only 38 countries participating in the contest.
Macedonia will not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.
MRT
Due to the economic and energy crisis and the high costs, Macedonia will not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, which will be held in May in Liverpool, Great Britain.
The decision to withdraw from Eurovision is valid for this year, and we will see for the next contest.
MRT claim the withdrawal is due to the ongoing economic crisis, which was brought on by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February. Additionally, there had been rumours of North Macedonia’s withdrawal ever since they first threatened the possibility following the Opening Ceremony in Turin, whereby Andrea became involved in a scandal around the manner in which she dropped the North Macedonian Flag.
So far, 34 countries have confirmed their participation for Liverpool 2023. Four countries, which participated in Turin, are yet to state whether or not they will participate in Liverpool. They are Armenia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Moldova. While rumours are circling around Bulgaria’s possible withdrawal, it is very likely that Armenia, Czech Republic and Moldova will indeed participate as expected.