Ukrainian broadcaster NTU has reacted on the problems their national selections are facing. To be eligible to enter the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, a song must not have been commercially released or publicly performed before 1st October 2004. Until now, five of the ten semifinal winners have broken this elementary rule.

“The situation regarding our national selection is indeed pretty intriguing.” admits a spokeswoman of NTU in a reaction to esctoday.com. “In case we have a winner with a song released before 1st October 2004, he or she will have to select another song straightaway after our national final. We will definitely not let the person representing Ukraine be disqualified due to violation of the rules.” NTU is currently negotiating the possibility that semifinal winners breaking the 1st October rule can already perform a new song in the Ukrainian national final.

Ukraine will take part in the Eurovision Song Contest for the third time and is unexperienced with national selections since NTU internally selected their representatives in 2003 and 2004. “It's the first time we select a song this way,” adds NTU, host broadcaster of the upcoming contest in Kiev. “That might explain why certain aspects are not completely worked out.”

According to a research of our colleagues at esckaz.com no less than five of the ten songs that have been selected for the Ukrainian national final so far are breaking the 1st October rule.