Junior Eurovision 2021: Belgium's RTBF will not return to the contest in Paris

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The Belgic broadcaster, RTBF, has no intention of returning to Junior Eurovision this year in Paris.
The RTBF Director-General of the content Sandrine Roustan has confirmed to Eurofestivales that the broadcaster will not be returning to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest this year. He justfied the station's decision by saying that "the event is definitely too expensive for us."
RTBF opts for the same path of absence as the other Belgic broadcaster, VRT, which had previously ruled out any return in the 2021 eidtion of the contest in Paris.
Belgium in Junior Eurovision
The country debuted in the contest in 2003 and took part until 2021. The years from 2003 up to 2005 the RTBF of Wallonia were in charge of the country's Junior Eurovision participations. Since 2005 VRT has taken responsibility for Belgium's appearcance. In 2005 the contest took place in the city of Hasselt, hosted by Maureen Louys and Marcel Vanthilt at the Ethias Arena.
That format changed in 2005, when the broadcasters arranged a single national final together. In 2006, RTBF decided to withdraw from the contest, due to a lack of interest in Wallonia. VRT was solely responsible from that point on.
Belgium's best placing came from Laura Omloop and her song “Zo verliefd (Yodelo)”, which finished in 4th position at the 2009 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine
In 2013, VRT announced that Belgium will withdraw from Junior Eurovision that year, and they haven’t participated since. Perhaps one day we'll see the Belgian flag flying again at Junior Eurovision in the meantime you can still listen to the songs they participated with in the past in the video below.
News Source: Eurofestivales
Image: Junior Eurovision tv