43 countries too many? Nah...
There has been much speculation over quite how many countries there will be in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, and it’s been confirmed by Svante Stockselius (the chubby bloke in the picture), head of the European Broadcasting Union, that the 40-country-limit has been broken as 43 countries have confirmed their entry into next year’s Eurovision! Alas, it seems the puzzle of Italy has been solved – although a lot of people wanted to see their return, it looks like someone at their broadcaster RAI decided to spoil the fun by saying ‘no’ (or whatever the Italian for ‘no’ is). So they’re not in next year, and neither are Azerbaijan, but then this is no big surprise.
The 43 countries taking part include all of the 37 taking part last year, the introduction of Serbia and Montenegro as different countries (wonder how many votes will be swapped there?!), the debuts of Czech Republic and Georgia, and the return of Hungary and Austria!
There are many downsides to having so many countries. Namely that the bloc-voting will probably be more prominent than ever with all of the debut or returning six countries likely to add greatly to eastern voting, and the voting procedure itself will probably end sometime near the start of the 2008 contest. Also, the semi-final could possibly have a maximum of TWENTY-NINE COUNTRIES.
This is a lot of countries.
Bear in mind that only ten countries qualify from the semi-final anyway. This is bad news for countries such as Netherlands and Belgium, who will not benefit very much from an i
nflux of eastern voting countries. I demand a change in the voting system.
Does Mr Stockselius think that 29 semi-finalists is overdoing it? By the photo, it certainly looks like he’s pondering over whether it was a few too many.
The figure of 43 countries is not 100% confirmed yet, as each country will be sent the costs of entering the Eurovision and have two weeks to decide whether to withdraw or not; if they withdraw within this two week period, they will not be charged. However, if a country says they’ll take part and then pulls out later, they will be charged. Eyes are fixed on Moldova here, as it was unclear whether or not they had quite enough money to take part. They are on the list, however, but whether anyone will pull out is not clear yet.
On the bright side, us lucky Eurofans may have 43 songs to tuck into next year. Forty-three! It’s going to be a very busy national final if this is the case!
The 43 countries taking part include all of the 37 taking part last year, the introduction of Serbia and Montenegro as different countries (wonder how many votes will be swapped there?!), the debuts of Czech Republic and Georgia, and the return of Hungary and Austria!
There are many downsides to having so many countries. Namely that the bloc-voting will probably be more prominent than ever with all of the debut or returning six countries likely to add greatly to eastern voting, and the voting procedure itself will probably end sometime near the start of the 2008 contest. Also, the semi-final could possibly have a maximum of TWENTY-NINE COUNTRIES.
This is a lot of countries.
Bear in mind that only ten countries qualify from the semi-final anyway. This is bad news for countries such as Netherlands and Belgium, who will not benefit very much from an i
nflux of eastern voting countries. I demand a change in the voting system.Does Mr Stockselius think that 29 semi-finalists is overdoing it? By the photo, it certainly looks like he’s pondering over whether it was a few too many.
The figure of 43 countries is not 100% confirmed yet, as each country will be sent the costs of entering the Eurovision and have two weeks to decide whether to withdraw or not; if they withdraw within this two week period, they will not be charged. However, if a country says they’ll take part and then pulls out later, they will be charged. Eyes are fixed on Moldova here, as it was unclear whether or not they had quite enough money to take part. They are on the list, however, but whether anyone will pull out is not clear yet.
On the bright side, us lucky Eurofans may have 43 songs to tuck into next year. Forty-three! It’s going to be a very busy national final if this is the case!
posted by ESCChris at
11:44 AM
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