East European song contest
The Eurovison has lost what it once was, a song contest. Last night 10 countries were sent through to the finals all from east and central Europe. Songs from Cyprus, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Andorra, Belgium and Austria all were quoted as being good songs for Eurovision, with even a winning possibility. Didn't make it through. How come none of them ended up in the final? Is it a coincidence? My answert is no! But I might be wrong, I sure hope so. The last 5 years it has been like this. Could this be the end of the Eurovision?
Some quotes after the Semi finals:
Head of press for the Norwegian delegation told esctoday.com after the result: "Obviously we are very disappointed. Everything went so well for us until the voting. This shows that we need to reconsider the system with the semi finals, this result certainly sends us warning signals to the Western countries".
Head of the United Kingdom delegation, Dominic Smith told esctoday.com that "From the United Kingdom's perspective, it makes you doubt what our motivation would be to enter the semi final, there absolutely no motivation with this result. I was sorry to see Denmark not there, Switzerland was good, Netherlands was good".
A senior director of NOS, the Dutch broadcaster has informed esctoday.com that "I heard there was a lot of anger in the hall. I think the EBU has to find out what to do about this problem. It would be smart to have a discussion within the EBU and with the Western Countries because if this goes on for three or four more years, countries will be withdrawing. Asked on whether the Dutch were already considering withdrawal, we were told "no, not at the moment".
The first singer to give a reaction on this subject to esctoday.com is Edsilia Rombley, one of the fans' favourites here in Helsinki. The representative of The Netherlands was asked about the voting, Edisila felt that it was definitely an issue, although it hadn't occurred to her immediately. Asked if she would try again to win the Eurovision Song Contest, she said "No! No way, not until they find a proper way to judge and reduce the televoting in the competition".