Eurovision Song Festival 12

The Eurovision Song Festival 12 will be the 12th edition of the Eurovision Song Festival. It will take place in the Romexpo in Bucharest, Romania. This will be the second time the contest will take place in Romania. The contest is expected to consist of two semi-finals on 8 December and the final on 9 December 2019.

On the 10th of October, the EBO confirmed that a total of 46 countries will be present in the twelfth edition of the Eurovision Song Festival.

## Location

### **Bidding phase**

On 11 October 2019, the EBO confirmed that eight cities were in the race to host the twelfth edition of the Eurovision Song Festival. The host city will be announced on the 12th of October 2019. The head of the contest, Adéla Bronislava, announced that the host city announcement will take place on 10:30 CET.

All cities were allowed to submit a venue for hosting the contest. The cities had to announce the venue and the capacity for the show. In the end, eight cities were submitted to host the contest. The following cities are in the race to host the contest:
  †   Host venue
  ‡   Shortlisted

### **Venue**

Romexpo, also known as Romexpo Dome or Romexpo Town, is a large exhibition center and indoor arena in Bucharest, Romania. It is primarily used for exhibitions, concerts, and sporting events. The complex also hosts more than 140 other exhibits and trade shows every year. It is 303,234 square metres (3,263,980 sq ft), houses 100,000 square metres (1,100,000 sq ft) under roof, spread throughout 11 pavilions.

The main construction is very similar to the Tokyo Dome. It is close to other Bucharest landmarks, including the Bucharest World Trade Center, City Gate Towers, and House of the Free Press.

In 2018 it covered an exhibition area of 143,000 square meters. There were over 142,000 participants, including 3,500 exhibiting companies from 45 countries.

## Format

On the 10th of October, the EBO confirmed that 2 Semi-Finals and the final were scheduled to take place in November. There is a jury and a televote. They both decide 50% of the score. There was also a big 6 pre-qualified to the final. Those countries were the host Romania, Croatia, Ukraine, Albania, Poland and Hungary.

## Participating countries

Participating countries had until 1 August 2019 to submit their applications for participation in the contest and until 8 August 2019 to withdraw their application without a penalty. The EBO announced on 10 October that 46 countries would participate in the contest. Normally only 44 countries are allowed to take part, but Adéla Bronislava said that 46 countries could join this edition. "It is now the standard that 46 nations take part. This is the maximum of countries to participate. We are however looking to format changes, so we can allow more countries to compete in the future."

## Results

### **Semi-Final 1**

Twenty countries participated in the first semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

### **Semi-Final 2**

Twenty countries participated in the second semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

## Other countries

 Andorra - Andorra stated that they would not debut in this edition.

 Austria - Despite the Kosovar statement that the country would withdraw, ORF stated that they were still discussing participation.

 Cyprus - The Cypriot broadcaster, CyBC, reported record low viewing figures for the contest, despite inviting Helena Paparizou, a famous singer in Cyprus, to perform for the country at the Eurovision stage. In the same report, CyBC confirmed their absence for at least one to two editions.

 Kosovo - RTK from Kosovo reported that a third country would withdraw (Austria according to the Kosovar press) and that Kosovo had asked the EBO to be allowed to debut this edition. The EBO did not made a public statement yet. Kosovo did not appear on the final list of participants.

 Liechtenstein - 1FLTV from Liechtenstein told to the press that a debut in this edition was not achievable.

 Luxembourg - RTL, the broadcaster from Luxembourg, stated that Luxembourg would not debut in this edition or in the near future, as costs to take part are too high.

 Malta - After being absent for two editions, PBS from Malta confirmed it would return to the show after having found the necessary resources.

 Portugal - RTP from Portugal decided to withdrew from the Eurovision Song Festival after another non-qualification and bad placing of a "high quality song", stated by a RTP spokesman. The broadcaster did not say whether they would return in the future or not.

 Sweden - SVT reported that a second country would withdraw from the show, meaning that Sweden could take the empty spot. Malta had priority, while the Maltese broadcaster confirmed their return earlier.