The Montenegrin public broadcaster, RTCG has announced that it will not be competing in Eurovision 2023. They cite financial constraints and an inability to generate interest from sponsors.
Withdrawal
Montenegro’s broadcaster, Radio i Televizija Crna Gora, released a statement yesterday confirming that they would not be among the delegations traveling to Liverpool for Eurovision next May. Here is their statement (in Montenegrin), translated below:
In addition to the significant costs of the registration fee, as well as the cost of staying in Great Britain – we also faced a lack of interest from sponsors, so we decided to direct existing resources to the financing of current and planned national projects, and organisational and program reforms, which entail significant investment projects in equipment and premises
This is of course unfortunate news for Montenegro, and its fans. This means that Montenegro’s return in 2022 after two years away from the contest has turned out to be only a one-year return, and the country is for now an irregular participant. This is the first confirmed change so far to the lineup of countries from 2022.
Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest
Montenegro’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest has not always been the most successful. While Montenegrin artists took part in Eurovision underneath the names of Yugoslavia in 1983 and 1984, and in 2005 under Serbia and Montenegro, their first participation in 2007 as an independent country saw Stefan Faddy failing to qualify from 2007’s semi-final.
From there, Montenegro entered on-and-off, sending some of Eurovision’s more weird and wonderful entries such as “Euro Neuro” or “Igranka”, but did not qualify until 2014, where Sergej Ćetković’s “Moj Svijet” became the first Montenegrin entry to make it through a semi-final and feature in the Grand Final as an independent country. This was followed by the beautiful “Adio” by Knez in 2015, which achieved Montenegro’s best position to date of 13th.
However, since 2015, Montenegro has failed to advance from the semi-finals with any entries, making them, of all the countries that participated in 2022, the country with the longest current ‘dry streak’ of not being present in a final, though they were not present for the 2021 contest in the interim. Side note: this unenviable ‘record’ will now be jointly held by Georgia and Latvia, each were last in the final in 2016 and have confirmed for 2023.
In 2022, Montenegro selected Vladana to represent them with the song “Breathe”. She attempted to represent Montenegro in 2005 and 2006, when the country was still part of Serbia and Montenegro. She finished 17th place in semi-final two, second from last, with 33 points.
How do you feel about Montenegro withdrawing? What have been your favourite Montenegrin entries over the years? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to see our reactions to the news in the upcoming months.
