Eurovision Song Contest likely to have new format

Olivia Lewis will be interpreting her song Vertigo towards the end of the Eurovision Song Contest's semi-final on May 10, giving her an edge over other countries.

Malta clinched the 20th slot after the running order of the 28 songs competing in the semi-final was drawn by lot on Monday, during the Heads of Delegation two-day meeting in Finland.

Contacted in Helsinki yesterday, Maltasong chairman Robert Abela said results in recent years had shown that countries appearing lower in the running order had a natural advantage.

Also high on the agenda at the meeting were the changes being proposed by the European Broadcasting Union for next year's Eurovision Song Contest.

Mr Abela said discussions revolved around changing the present format completely so that just the Big Four Group - Germany, the UK, Spain and France - and the winner of this year's contest will be guaranteed a place in the 2008 final. This means that everyone else, no matter whether they place among the top 10 countries or not, will have to first compete in a semi-final. The idea is to have two semi-finals - on a Tuesday and a Thursday - where a number of songs will be chosen from each semi-final to compete in Saturday's final.

At the moment, the way things stand, 24 countries will be competing in the final - the Big Four Group, the countries that placed among the top 10 in last year's contest, and the 10 favourite songs from the 28 countries competing in the semi-final.

"These are just discussions for now. However, 99.9 per cent the EBU will decide to adopt this format for next year's festival. We will know in May," Mr Abela said.

Asked how this would affect Malta, Mr Abela said the proposed changes were extremely fair.

"This way everyone is in the same position. I mean if we place among the top 10 this year with a good song and then compete with a lousy song in the finals the following year, it's not exactly fair on the other countries that are in the semi-finals with a better song," he explained.

The Heads of Delegation also reviewed the dates for the 2008 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. While not yet set in stone the contest is likely to take place during the week ending May 24.