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Montenegro: RTCG withdraws from Eurovision!

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As you have exclusively read through Eurovisionfun this morning, a while ago the Public Television of Montenegro (RTCG) confirmed that it would not participate in Eurovision 2023!

Montenegro was represented by Vladana Vucic with the song “Breathe” in 2022. It scored 33 points in the semi-final placing 15th there.

In fact, RTCG, in its official announcement, states that economic reasons were the ones that impacted this decision. This will not be the first time that the small Balkan country will be absent from Eurovision. In 2010, 2011, 2014, 2020 and 2021 for similar reasons it decided not to compete in the contest.

We remind you that as we have revealed earlier, Bulgaria will not take part in Eurovision 2023 either. So the situation with the confirmations of the countries is as follows:

Countries that have confirmed:
Semi-finals (28 countries)
Albania
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belgium
Croatia
Cyprus
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Georgia
Greece
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
San Marino
Serbia
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland

Final (Big Five & Ukraine):
France
Germany
Italy
Spain
Ukraine
United Kingdom

Withdrawn countries:
Bulgaria
Montenegro

Still yet to make an announcement:
Armenia
Czech Republic
Moldova
North Macedonia

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun regarding the information about ESC!

EXCLUSIVE | Bulgaria and Montenegro will not participate in Eurovision 2023!

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We can exclusively reveal that both Bulgaria and Montenegro will not take part in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest, that is set to take place in Liverpool, in May.

The main reason behind RTCG’s (Radio and Television of Montenegro) decision not to participate seems to be the latter’s financial difficulties. It is not the first time that RTCG has withdrawn from ESC due to financial difficulties. They did so in 2010, 2011, 2020 (RTCG announced that it would not participate before the Contest was cancelled due to Covid-19), and 2021.

The BNT’s (Bulgarian National Television) decision not enter the Contest seems to be the result of both BNT’s financial difficulties and the political uncertainty in the country. Bulgaria did not enter the Contest in 2014 and 2015 for similar reasons.

As of this time, only the following 34 countries have publicly confirmed their intentions to participate in the 2023 ESC:

Semi-finals (28 countries)

Albania
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belgium
Croatia
Cyprus
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Georgia
Greece
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
San Marino
Serbia
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland

Final (Big Five & Ukraine)

France
Germany
Italy
Spain
Ukraine
United Kingdom

Countries that took part in ESC 2022 but have not expressed any intention about ESC 2023

Armenia
Czech Republic
Moldova
North Macedonia

If the above four countries do not enter the Contest, ESC 2023 is set to become the ESC edition with the fewer participants since 2003. Semi-final(s) format was introduced in 2004 with just one semi-final, and was replaced with the two semi-finals’ setting in 2008 and onwards.

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the details about the upcoming ESC!

Montenegro: RTCG’s answer to the EBU about the voting irregularities!

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A few hours after EBU’s announcement about the irregularities in the jury voting in the second semi-final, the Montenegrin broadcaster, RTCG is the first broadcaster to share their thoughts on the announcement!

The official announcement by EBU on voting irregularities during Semi-Final 2

The RTCG states the following:

Following EBU’s announcement about the alleged irregular voting of the jury of experts in up to 6 countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, we want to emphasize that it has nothing to do with Montenegro and that it is only speculation that is not true and unverified information.

As they point out, it is statistically impossible to avoid certain repetitions, as evidenced by the fact that the group of countries participating in the second semi-final night, as in Sweden, Australia, Belgium, Estonia…

These are, according to RTCG, examples of mutual exchange of points between the countries in the second semi-final:

Australia
12 points for Sweden
10 points for Israel
8 points for Belgium
7 points for North Macedonia
6 points for Ireland

12 points from Sweden
10 points from Israel
8 points from Belgium
5 points from North Macedonia
5 points from Ireland

Sweden
12 points for Australia
10 points for Estonia
8 points for Belgium
7 points for Malta
6 points for the Czech Republic

12 points from Australia
12 points from Estonia
10 points from Belgium
12 points from Malta
12 points from the Czech Republic

Belgium
10 points for Sweden
8 points for Australia
7 points for Israel

8 points from Sweden
8 points from Australia
7 points from Israel

So, with such a small number of countries in the semi-finals, it is impossible to avoid certain repetitions.

It is not for us to judge why these countries did not raise suspicions, whereas there were 6 countries where it was impractical to have repetitions. On the other hand, in some of the countries on the EBU list, the organiser almost completely changed the votes.

Montenegro’s votes were announced by the artist Zombijana and, as you could see in the live stream, the jury’s vote coincided almost perfectly with the final results.

As you can see on the Eurovision website, among the countries that received Montenegro’s jury votes in the final, there were none of the entries from the semi-final night.

Finally, the Eurovision Song Contest is a contest that has its regular and large audience and is almost always accompanied by various intrigues, which, we are sure, also contribute to its popularity

Vladana represented Montenegro in Turin and with “Breathe” she ended up 17th in the second semi-final. You can see her performance here:

https://youtu.be/L-ViRVRiGl0

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Stay tuned at Eurovisionfun for all the updates regarding Eurovision 2023!

Source: RTCG

Montenegro: Vladana’s song ‘Breathe’ is expected to premiere at the end of February!

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As it was announced yesterday by the Montenegrin public television, RTCG, Vladana Vučinić will represent Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. She revealed in an Instagram story that the famous Balkan songwriter Darko Dimitrov is the composer of her entry.

Darko Dimitrov

This morning it was also publicly announced during the press conference held by RTCG that the song’s title is “Breathe“. The entry is entirely in English and is a dynamic ballad with a clear message, dedicated to Vladana’s mother, who passed away a few months ago. Her song will also have a ‘cinematic piano moment’.

The song is expected to premiere at the end of February and there is also an intention to release the Italian version of the song. She also described her song as emotional, strong and melancholy, while revealing that she will be alone on the Eurovision stage in Turin.

The budget for the participation in Turin will be relatively smaller than in previous years. She also announced at the RTCG conference that the country paid 28.000 euros for its participation, the lowest of all participating countries.

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Montenegro: Purchase five new cars instead of participating in Eurovision 2020

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Montenegro’s Public Television (RTCG) following the announcement of the list by the EBU of countries to take part in the 65th Eurovision Song Contest and the official withdrawal from the contest, which you first read at Eurovisionfun, explains the reasons for this decision.

According to the RTCG announcement, the reasons for the withdrawal are economic, but also because of Montenegro’s low qualification rates in the Eurovision Final.

“Participating in the Eurovision song contest costs about 130,000 euros a year. Our representatives have usually achieved moderate results, making it difficult to qualify for the Grand Final. So this year we decided to invest this money in refurbishing the RTCG fleet. The plan is to buy five new cars, which will greatly improve the safety of our staff, who do more than 1,000 kilometers a day”

(RTCG on the withdrawal of Montenegro from Eurovision 2020)

According to the announcement the withdrawal seems to be only for the next event and not general. This is the second time Montenegro has withdrawn from the competition. The first was the two-year 2010 – 2011, when again due to poor results and the financial crisis that had just made its appearance, they were absent for two years.

In Tel Aviv, Montenegro were represented by D Mol with “Heaven”, who finished 16th in the first semifinal.

Source: RTCG