Croatian Radiotelevision decided not to participate in Eurovision Song Contest 2014. Hrvatska radiotelevizija, the Croatian national broadcaster, decided that Croatia will not participate at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest next year in Copenhagen. HRT will decide whether to broadcast the Final or not, depending on the audience request. HRT, as a national broadcaster, needs to plan funds very carefully, and due to the financial crisis as well as public critics regarding the participation costs.
Even though many viewers will be disappointed with the decision, HRT decided to take a year break as the main goal is always to find a great performer with a song that will reach a high position, and due to the series of bad results in the past couple of years.
Many other European countries also decided not to participate at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest due to the global economy crisis. Anyhow, HRT will focus funds to raise the quality of the programmes and fulfilling the function of being the national broadcaster in Croatia.
Croatia has participated at the Eurovision Song Contest 21 times, participating every year since their debut in 1993. Together with Sweden and Malta, and the 5 countries that are for financial reasons entitled to take part every year, Croatia is one of the few countries that has not missed a contest since 1993, when the lowest scorers each year got relegated. It is also only one of two countries, along with Spain (excluding recent debut countries) that has not missed a participation since their debut. The Croatian representative in the Eurovision Song Contest is selected at the pop festival called Dora, an annual event organized by the national public broadcaster Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT).
Croatian artists performed at Eurovision between 1961 and 1991 whilst part of Yugoslavia. Croatia was the most successful republic of Yugoslavia at Eurovision, with 13 of the 26 Yugoslav entries being Croatian, and Yugoslavia’s only winner, Riva with “Rock Me” in 1989, being Croatian. The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was held in Zagreb as a result. After the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, the Croatian national public broadcaster Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT) had organised a festival to select a Croatian representative for the 1992 Contest. Had HRT been a member of the EBU in time for the contest, the first Croatian entry at Eurovision would have been the band Magazin with “Aleluja”.
Croatia’s first entry as an independent state was in 1993 with the band Put, performing “Don’t Ever Cry” which was, despite the English title, performed in Croatian. The song came third in the “Qualification for Millstreet”, which allowed for their participation in the 1993 contest. Croatia’s best position, as of 2013, has been with Maja Blagdan’s 1996 entry “Sveta ljubav”, and Doris Dragović’s 1999 entry “Marija Magdalena”.
Croatian singer Tereza Kesovija represented Monaco at the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 and the Croatian group Feminnem represented Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with “Call me”.
