France Télévisions, the French national broadcaster, has announced that it will not host the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2026.

As the winning country of Junior Eurovision 2025, France was given the right of first refusal on hosting the 2026 contest. Tonight, France Televisions announced that they would not be able to host Junior Eurovision 2026. This is due to financial reasons. In order to balance out its budget for 2026, France Televisions needs to make savings of €140 million.

In a statement, France Télévisions announced its plans to save the required money across the organisation.

This is not the first time that France declined hosting Junior Eurovision after a victory. In 2024, France declined hosting the contest after hosting two of the last three contests and deciding to focus on broadcast plans for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Spain then became the host country and hosted the 2024 contest in Madrid.

It is unknown if and how these budget cuts will affect France’s participation in Junior Eurovision 2026.

Lou Deleuze won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Tbilisi for France with “Ce monde”. She scored 248 points, giving France their fourth victory in history and tying them with Georgia for the most wins overall.