Serbia has joined a list of countries, including Bulgaria, which have decided to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest due to austerity measures on national TV budgets.

“Serbia, as an independent state, has been participating in this prestigious competition since 2007. In 2008, as the host of Eurovision contest, the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation RTS set new standards in organizational and technical terms, which serve as an example even today,” RTS said in an official statement to the media.

Earlier in the day Bulgaria's state-owned TV channel BNT announced it has decided to withdraw from the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in Denmark over budget cuts and financial issues.

“Bulgaria will no longer participate in the Eurovision contest due to the rising fee the competition charges and the reduced budget of the national television channel. This is just the first step of financial restrictions that BNT will introduce,” Bulgarian National Television (BNT) said in a press release on Friday evening.

The fee that BNT has to pay for Bulgaria to participate in Eurovision contest next year has doubled in comparison with 2005 when the country made its debut, it added.

Bulgaria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest nine times since its debut in 2005, but it was only the drumming duo Elitsa and Stundzhi that brought success to the country and reached the finals in 2007.

Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Luxembourg and Andorra have also decided not to participate but Portugal is making a comeback after taking a break in 2013.

"We are aware of the economic challenges that several of our members face. Unfortunately, we cannot reduce the participation fee for some countries, as then we would have increase it for the others. However, we are trying to find various other solutions”, says Executive Supervisor, Jon Ola Sand.

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