Kazakhstan’s hopes of Eurovision glory next year have hit a bureaucratic wall.
The European Broadcasting Union said Thursday that state-owned broadcaster Khabar Agency does not qualify for full membership, after it recently applied to compete in the glitzy annual contest.
The EBU said in a statement that Kazakhstan falls outside the European Broadcasting Area, is not a Council of Europe member and lacks formal observer status with the organization. “Khabar Agency therefore does not qualify for full membership at this time.”
Those requirements are set out in the EBU’s statutes, which were relaxed in June to allow broadcasters from some countries outside Europe to become full members.
“Khabar Agency is a valued Associate Member of the EBU, and we appreciate its long-standing engagement with the Union,” the statement added.
The broadcaster, controlled by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Culture and Information, took the country to Junior Eurovision five times between 2018 and 2022, finishing as runner-up twice. Associate membership, however, does not provide an automatic route into the senior contest.
A small portion of Kazakhstan (albeit an area larger than Greece) lies within geographical Europe, bolstering its claim that it should be able to compete. The EU is the country’s largest trading partner.
That said, geography is hardly a deal-breaker. Australia has competed through special invitations since 2015, finishing fourth in May earlier this year. Canada went further this summer: CBC/Radio-Canada became a full EBU member after the rule change and will make its Eurovision debut in 2027. Canada qualifies because it holds observer status with the Council of Europe and meets the EBU’s public-service-media criteria. Russia frequently competed in the past, until it was kicked out of the competition following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, despite most of its vast territory being in Asia.
The rejection lands as Eurovision wrestles with another set of geopolitical rules. Five broadcasters boycotted the 2026 contest over the participation of another non-European country, Israel, over its conduct in the Gaza Strip. Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS has already said it will sit out again in 2027.
For now, Kazakhstan remains outside the main contest, with Khabar limited to associate membership.
The EBU didn’t respond to POLITICO’s request for comment on Kazakhstan’s potential to compete in the future.