the essential
The 68th Eurovision Song Contest will take place on Saturday May 11, 2024 in Malmö, Sweden. Among the candidates are naturally European countries and – more surprisingly – Australia or Israel: but for what reasons?
The same question comes up every year. If Eurovision is the European song contest, why do Australia and Israel have candidates when they are not in Europe?
It was Israel that got the ball rolling in… 1973. The Jewish state was then the first country outside of Europe to try its luck. Since 1973, Israel has won Eurovision four times. The last time dates back to 2018 with the singer Netta and the title “Toy”. This year, Israel is represented by the artist Eden Golan and the song “Hurricane”.
It was in 2015 that Australia was a candidate for Eurovision for the first time. A choice by the organizers that year to thank Australia for its loyalty to the program where it is broadcast each year on television. This application had to be unique. But the audience success encouraged the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) to renew the invitation year after year. This year, Australia is represented by the duo Electric Fields and the song “One Milkali (One Blood)”.
In the past, other countries outside Europe have briefly participated in Eurovision: Turkey between 1975 and 2012, Morocco in 1980. Other countries outside Europe have been integrated into the competition and have not no longer left since: Armenia in 2006, Georgia in 2007 and Azerbaijan in 2008. Conversely, Russia has been excluded since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Other countries around the world have chosen to join the EBU and could theoretically one day be candidates for Eurovision: Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan or Libya. With one essential rule: the country that wins Eurovision must organize the competition the following year. Exception in 2023: England organized the competition despite the victory of Ukraine – a country already at war – the previous year
