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No plans to return at present
Austria: ORF will decide in the Autumn
A spokesperson from ORF confirmed to esctoday.com that there are currently no plans for an Austrian participation in the 2009 contest, but that a proper decision would be made in the Autumn.
Austria withdrew in 2006 citing that Austria has poor chances to do well in the competition, before returning in 2007, only to end 2nd last in the semi final and withdraw again in 2008 for the same reasons.
At the moment, it seems very unlikely that Italy, Monaco, Luxembourg or Morocco will return to the contest in 2009, but Slovakia, who were last seen in 1998, may be a safer bet.
esctoday.com will keep you up to date on all participation issues for the upcoming contest in Russia.
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Austria makes one big mistake in my opinion... they care for the end result...
This competition is marvellous and unique, being part of it gives you a special kick - but one should close the eyes or switch of the TV when it comes to the voting procedure...
With the new semi-final rules, Austria has a certain chance to enter the final with a really fantastic song (f.ex. like Portugal this year)... of course, in the end, they have no chance, but who cares...?
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This is the sad face of Eurovision depending where you are in Europe and if they notice or care a damn about you is how well you do.Austria like so many now have no chance so why waste money or time. I hope that one day they will make Ex USSR and Ex Yugo have their own show together and that then will be so much better they have all KILLED this show.
please monaco come back
and SYLVER or LASGO for belgium
@Whatever
That's.....uuugh.....really funny....lol
Ben Gray
........the contest is no longer fair, because as long as Cyprus votes in the final, Greece almost certainly has a 12 point headstart, and that's just one example. They revere it as the most exciting part of the evening, when by now it's become the part of the evening that ruins everything .......
KALOMIRA'S 
"Secret Combination"
(ranked ... No. 1 
... in BOTH Semifinals)
(No. 3 WINNER in the Final)
NOTE: When GREECE has a GREAT SONG with a
FABULOUS PERFORMANCE and 37 out of 43 countries
VOTE for GREECE'S GREAT SONG, please remember that
12pts from Cyprus do NOT equal the total ... 218 VOTES[/b ]!!!!!!!
When Greece was LEADING throughout the whole
voting process (Top 3), even .... Russia skipped a beat,
until she was "saved", at the last moment, for that
... half-victory , if you ask me!!
Enjoy: http://www.kalomoira.com
ESC: One year Austria is out (2006), next Austria is in (2007)...
and (2009)?
... ON again, ORF again ... to paraphrase
a title of one of my favourite Maltese ESC entries.
@Alam Au
Of course, your flag is like the Polish one. :-) Well the Grand Prix der Volksmusik is kind of mixed. They use classical instruments as welll as keyboard. Some songs are more Schlager than traditional (like Germany 1999 Michelle type of song).
Yes, Eric Papalaya is half Indonesian. It was a good song, but they should have left the AIDS thematic out of ESC. Many felt insulted by it and some even questioned the fact of it being "necessary" at ESC to gain points. The song was good but too much was done on stage I think. So it lost in the end.
@ Tie Break
OJ! it ain't my flag!!! 
! I'm aussie.. hahaha well International Boy hahaha OK I'm a little intrigued now with Volksmusic.... I'm goner look it up hahaha.
I think Papilaya's song was good but it just didnt stand out.
ORF enter next year.. have a great preselection... send a great song.... dont make a stage act to compete... make a stage act from the heart and soul of the Austrian peoples! Austria give one more try plz.... the you can drop out forever...
@ Tie Break [15413]
Grand Prix der Volksmusik sounds interesting! Is it just traditional music or with electronic and modern sounds mixed? I think Austria should send a classical act... strings, violins... showcase its culture. Anyways Austria in Eurovision is kinda special for me.... I heard Papilaya's dad was Indonesian or something... hahaha! well my parents are indo lol... And Indonesia got more worse flag than Austria, just one less red stripe 
Well Austria should go back to its roots and show off its proud classical music heritage!
@Alam Au
Hey just kidding ;-). I find our flag boring too. lol.
Well, unfortunaly the Austrian pop scene is very small in comparison to countries like Sweden with almost the same population. I guess people here are more into musicals, classical stuff and take in everything that's "American" -
MTV and all that. Of course there is the traditional "Volksmusik" which is clearly heard in our Eurovision entry 2005 "Y Asi" with the brass instruments, but I guess it's not really something people want at Eurovision.
There is also the "Grand Prix der Volksmusik" which is like Eurovision between Austria, Germany, Switzerland and South Tirol (Italy) once a year, and it kind of works like ESC but only with 4 countries each bringing 3 songs or so....
@ Tie Break [15413]
I'm sorry, Austria flag is pretty...
Well I really hope that Austria does come back, but if they don't it's their choice. Is there any other ways Austria can show off their culture, coz really I don't often here much about that country.
Come back Austria!
As far as I now, this is Eurovision, a song contest with broadcastes from the EBU, so any broadcaster from the EBU can take part. Morocco has the same right as Austria, the Netherlands or Hungary, for example, for being in Eurovision if they want to.
Morocco was in the Eurovision? Maybe start Mondovision. And there was also some talk of including Lebanon some years back but they wouldn't haave broadcasted Israel's entry. And do think that Israel's entry this year sounded very much Oriental style, the Eurovision expanded beyond its borders. As for Austria, they had some awesome singers in Thomas Forstner, Udo Jurgens and even '06 or '07 song was awesome, but was good to find out about the artists thanks to Eurovision.
@Alam Au
What do you mean boring and horrible flag? It's the second oldest flag of a nation still in use (after Denmark's). More respect please! :-)))
@ Marcus A
Oh I see. I unterstand what you mean.
Stay away Austria... horrible and boring flag.... I don't want that horrible flag to wreck Eurovision. Joking... austria make such a big fuss.. enter if u want.. withdraw and stay if u want.. im so sick of this threatening by ORF and other broadcasters.
If you don't want ESC to be over, then watch the semi's and the final and vote!
100,000,000 people watched the final and there were only 6,000,000 votes cast.
Why? Because people watch and don't vote. And since we know that many people vote way more than 1 time, we can understand how few people REALLY voted.
So, if you don't vote, why whine later?
It's not true that Russia always ends up in the top 3. If they have a bad song they don't end up very high. Anyone remember the song "Nobody Hurt Noone"? That did very poorly, only ending somewhere in the middle I think. And what about the horrible song Ukraine sent when they hosted the show? That ended up bottom 5 I think. So stop talking about how unfair the voting is. Was it fair that Ireland won 5 times in 4 years with old fashioned songs that no one remembers today and with artists noone remembers today. If that hadn't happened I think we would still have juries, and maybe a western country would have won more often. So if anyone killed Eurovision it was the juries always voting for Ireland, and not the eastern countries! And it's one Europe now, and no longer them against us. Besides the eastern countries make more of an effort to send good songs than the west. We have a tendency to send mainstream popsongs and forget our culture!
Whether Austria should return must be up to ORF to decide. Personally I like the contest with all the different countries, so I say the more the merrier!
I say all countries who feel the voting has become unacceptable, should withdraw. I have loved the ESC for years, but now I consider it over, and the sooner countries withdraw, the better.
@Tie Break
Actually I don´t care if a certain song is from let´s say Greece or Russia or Andorra or Iceland or any other country, as long as it´s a good song. Sadly Austria hasn´t sent a good song for years, IMHO, so that´s why I didn´t miss them. It´s got nothing to do with Austria as a country - which I can say is beautiful (have been there).
Ask EBU to bring back the Austrian Empire. Then we would only need one semifinal again.
Sorry, just a joke.
Another one:
Austria felt Hungary, so it took a bit of Turkey and dipped it in Greece.
Hahahahahaha!! I love that one.
@ Marcus A
You are right, it is about taste, musical taste, not which country I like better or whatever. Sorry, but I am a musician myself, and I wouldn't classify music according to countries (e.g. oh, the songs from Norway are always better than Belgium, which many people do). It's just when people start thinking in this way of countries instead of songs (not just relating to Austria), then I just don't understand it, and yes I get upset because we ARE talking about music, not which country is most popular or which countries flag or reputation is better. My point of view is just a bit different, but I respect yours of course. :-)
Well to those who didn't realise Austria wasn't there this year I say of course: Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, partly Poland, Ukraine and Romania were there doing us proud. Long live the Habsburgs!! Lol.
@Euro Sheep
Where did you get that from" believed their music to be better"? Our song last year was criticized in the media because of using the AIDS idea for ESC and most don't like ESC anyway in Austria.....bit like the UK actually, and I have lived in both countries. The Scandinavians have a much more positive opinion of ESC.
id like to see austria back in the contest , but im sorry to say , with the voting the way it is now, w ere more likely to see western countries leave , than come back !
AUSTRIA...!
please come back!!!
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