In yet another surprising Eurovision twist, RTV SLO has announced today that Slovenia has actually submitted their application for participation in Copenhagen!
The unexpected news was published on the broadcaster’s website, noting that they sent in their application at eve of the deadline. However, the confirmation is only semi-official. Just like last year, the Slovene broadcaster is using one of EBU’s rules loopholes: countries can postpone official confirmation until December 15th without incurring a penalty for withdrawing. Last year, the director of RTV SLO announced on December 15th that Slovenia would participate in Malmö and Hannah’s internal selection. While it is a bit too early to celebrate, this is still good news and we are hoping Slovenia will stick through! It seems that like last year, if Slovenia confirms their participation, they will be internally selecting their representative due to financial constraints.
Are you happy that Slovenia is back (for now, at least)? After the mixed bag of yesterday’s confirmations (Armenia and Azerbaijan) and withdrawals (Bulgaria and Serbia) this is good news, and puts the 2014 count at 36 countries!
Slovenia’s Eurovision history has been a rather rocky one, with usually middle-of-the-road results, including only two final qualifications since 2004. Its two best results were Darija Svajger with “Prisluhni mi” in 1995 and Nusa Derenda with “Energy” in 2001, both placing 7th. The song that won the most points for Slovenia in Eurovision finals was Maja Keuc’s “No one” in 2011, winning 96 points but only placing a respectable 13th . Last year in Malmö, Hannah was last in her semi final with only 8 points.
