Eurovision 2020: Jon Ola Sand: “There is no discussion of bringing Kazakhstan back”

In the city of Glivice, Poland, the Eurovision Song Contest Executive Supervisor  Jon Ola Sand has been out for a few days for the Junior Eurovision 2019.

In a press conference he gave to reporters, questions about regular Eurovision were of course too. One of the questions raised was Kazakhstan’s participation in Junior Eurovision and whether it opens the door to participation in adult Eurovision as well.

“There is no talk of bringing Kazakhstan to Eurovision”

Once again, Jon Ola Sand makes it clear that we will not see Kazakhstan in the contest – at least in 2020 – and that they are in ongoing dialogue between the EBU and the Kazakhstani public brοadcaster on membership and other events.

“First of all, we are very happy that Kazakhstan’s delegation is here and they did well last year. They have a great turnout this year and they generally prepare thoroughly and send out their best members basically, so we are very happy.

For the time being, there is no talk of bringing them to the Eurovision competition but we are in constant dialogue with the player at various levels – not only about our events but also about membership, and the services we offer.

They have visited the EBU offices several times, not just me but other departments and people of the EBU, and we want to continue the good dialogue with the Kazakh carrier because they add value, for example, to the competition – by Junior Eurovision – and we are very happy for this”

After all, in September, Jon Ola Sand himself had again stressed that there were no plans to invite the country to the 2020 competition in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Of course, the fact that the upcoming Eurovision competition will also be the last for Jon Ola Sand as Executive Supervisor may have a different approach to the issue from his successor.