ERT have preliminary confirmed that Greece will participate at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest, with preparations to start later this month.
‘We will be ready’
The news was confirmed to OGAE Greece earlier this week when several questions were put to the International Relations department of the broadcaster.
Ms. Maria Koufopoulou confirmed ERT’s participation and hinted that the first step towards finding an artist and song would take place later this month.
The deadline for this first phase of the Eurovision project is on 16/9. Until then we will be ready!
Re-finding the Secret Combination to Success
It’s no exaggeration to say that Greece were once a power house at the contest. During the 00s, the nation rarely found themselves outside of the top ten.
However, since 2014 they have found themselves with the worst ‘best result’ of all participating countries – only to be tied with San Marino. They have failed to achieve a result any higher than 19th place.
As to whether ERT had acknowledged the increasing record of poor results, OGAE Greece asked Koufopoulou on whether improvements were to be made.
We discussed in detail the positive and negative experience of participation, as well as the potential for improvement, better operation and communication with the public. We tried to evaluate what went wrong, given the position of our final ranking and what needs to be different in future.
Additionally, we held a meeting with people who love the institution more than anyone else. Representatives of fan clubs met ERT for a sincere and relaxed discussion, as well as members of ERT’s in Tel Aviv. They said very interesting things that will be useful in our future.
A change of selection method for 2020?
Last month, Greek media reported that ERT were considering a change in their selection process for next year. One of the options mentioned was the return of a single song selection show.
Katerine Duska brought the country back to the final this year when the contest was hosted in Tel Aviv. She finished 5th in her semi final, and went on to finish in 21st place with 74 points in the Grand Final.
