As of 2019, fifty-two countries have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest at least once, with around 40 to 43 appearing each year in the current format. As a community, we generally root for as full a house as possible – after all, more countries means more songs for us to enjoy. Not to mention the opportunity for fans around the world to wave their home flag on the big night, whether they’re in Iceland or Australia, Switzerland or San Marino.
However there is an inevitable ebb and flow to participations for a variety of reasons, ranging from financial difficulties and low ratings to political issues that go far beyond the Song Contest. Rotterdam 2020 looks set to be no exception – with Hungary and Montenegro are both absent from the list of participating broadcasters.
Hungary have enjoyed great success at Eurovision in recent years, including a top 5 placing for András Kállay-Saunders in 2014.
Falling Out Of Love
In Montenegro’s case, the reasons for a break are stated as financial. Despite annual tabloid grumblings, the Eurovision Song Contest is extremely cost effective television for wealthy Western broadcasters. For smaller participants like Montenegro, the funding is a much larger percentage of the annual budget and could arguably spent more efficiently on local productions. Having missed out on qualification four years in a row, the investment also starts looking a little harder to justify. Since North Macedonia’s resurgence in Tel Aviv, Montenegro are now on the longest streak of non-qualifications in the entire lineup of regular participants, and they’re one of only two countries never to have finished in the top ten – the other being San Marino.
For Hungary, the picture is more complex. They’ve been one of the most consistent qualifiers of the past decade – 2019 marked the first time since their 2011 comeback that they missed out on a place in the Grand Final.
However, local interest has reportedly been waning, while the Song Contest’s liberal values and the successes of LGBTQ+ performers such as Conchita and Duncan Laurence are increasingly at odds with the conservative politics of Hungary’s controversial right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. It may well be that, like Turkey before them, Hungary’s sense of national identity – at least as espoused by their political leaders – no longer squares with what Eurovision represents.
Coming Home: Who Has Benefited From A Break?
Sadly, sometimes a break from the Eurovision family really does turn into a long-term exit. Famously, five-time winners Luxembourg have been absent since 1993, while Turkey and Slovakia exited in 2012 and haven’t been seen since. However, other countries have taken a year or two out and emerged revitalised, with greater focus and improved results.
Austria
The semi-final system hit Austria hard in the mid 00s, and a succession of poor results saw them first take a year out in 2006, then a further three year absence from 2008-2010. At the time, ORF programme director Wolfgang Lorenz stated “ORF has no desire to send more talent out of Austria to a competition where they have no chances…Should the situation change, we’ll be happy to take part again“.
Possibly encouraged by two consecutive western wins in 2009 and 2010, and the introduction of the jury system to neutralise the effect of diaspora and bloc voting, Austria returned in 2011 with a renewed energy. They were immediately rewarded with their first qualification since 2004, and while two Semi Final knockouts followed, there was a notable willingness to try new things that culminated in Conchita’s victory in 2014. They have since scored three more Grand Final appearances since they hosted in 2015, including a jury win and overall third place finish for Cesar Sampson in Lisbon 2018.
Bulgaria
Part of a wave of Eastern and South European nations entering the rapidly expanding Contest in the mid-00s, Bulgaria had one of the most dismal qualification records of any country by the end of their first decade – qualifying just once out of nine attempts from 2005 to 2013.
A two year hiatus from 2014-2015 was blamed on financial troubles, but whatever the reason, they used the time to build a strong team and test their resources on the far more affordable Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which they hosted successfully in 2015. This undoubtedly helped to renew interest in the adult Contest too, and they made a stunning comeback with Poli Genova’s fourth-placed If Love Was a Crime in 2016, followed by a runner up for Kristian Kostov’s Beautiful Mess in 2017. Further internal financial strife kept them out in 2019, but only for a year. The pressure is on as the Bulgarian flag will be back on the Eurovision stage in Rotterdam.
Czech Republic
Czech Republic belatedly joined the Contest in 2007, long after most of their immediate Central European neighbours had already tested the waters to varying degrees of success. In their first three years they scored a grand total of ten points – nine of which they received in 2008.
Perhaps understandably, they concluded that their time was better spent elsewhere, and they were absent for five years before returning with a new team and a fresh direction in 2015. Despite their best shoe-flinging efforts, Marta Jandová & Václav Noid Bárta couldn’t quite get over the qualification threshold that year, but it was still their best result by a long way. The next year, they were rewarded with their first ever finals appearance, and two years after that they cracked the top ten with Mikolas Josef’s catchy hit Lie to Me.
Italy
A Eurovision powerhouse from the Contest’s inception, Italy took a few breaks in the 80s and 90s, citing low interest among Italian viewers – who preferred their homegrown Sanremo Festival, which of course inspired the Eurovision format in the first place. From 1998 to 2010 they took their longest hiatus, with many fans doubting they’d ever be tempted back into the fold.
However, in 2011 Italy did return, and in grand style – instantly scoring second place with Raphael Gualazzi’s Madness of Love. Since then, they’ve been one of the most consistently successful countries in the Contest, successfully using the San Remo format to send forward-thinking hits from major domestic stars to Eurovision. With another podium finish in 2019 and a routine presence in the upper reaches of the scoreboard, a third victory for Italy feels increasingly likely in the near future.
Portugal
When Portugal took a step back in 2016 – their second break after also absenting themselves in 2013 – they promised to use the time to regroup and come back stronger than ever. They could not have been more true to their word. A thorough makeover of their long-established national selection Festival da Canção shifted the focus to high profile, industry recognised songwriters, resulting in the emerging talent Luisa Sobral penning a touching jazz ballad for her brother Salvador to perform. The rest is history…
Party For Everybody…
Sometimes it just takes a change of team, or of political direction, or simply a year or two off to regroup and re-strategise. The joy of Eurovision is that the door is always open. Unless of course you’re from Kazakhstan, but that’s a whole other post…