France has officially withdrawn from the 2005 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The final decision has been taken today. As esctoday.com earlier reported, France 3 had serious doubts about a second participation in the Junior edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Several reasons have driven France 3 to a withdrawal. “A programmation at 20:15 CET is not the usual telelevisional 'crossroad' in France, the real rendez vous is arround 21:00 CET,” French Head of Delegation, Bruno Berberes starts explaining the withdrawal of France.

“The viewing figures for last year's national selection and Junior Eurovision Song Contest were too disappointing and a concept in which children are competing, with a ranking, that's too hard for them.” Berberes continues.

In conclusion, the French Head of Delegation repeats the statement he already pronounced last week: “Too much Eurovision kills Eurovision.” In the past Eurovision Song Contest season, France has broadcast a Junior national final, the 2004 Junior Eurovision Song Contest, two shows to select the representative for Kyiv and the semifinal and final of the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest.

After Switzerland, France is the second country to officially withdraw from the 2005 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. France joined the Junior Eurovision Song Contest last year in Lillehammer, where the second edition of the event took place. With the song Si on voulait bien, the young French singer Thomas finished sixth.

With France leaving the contest, only two 'Big 4' countries are left in the competition. However, Spain and the United Kingdom have not revealed any information yet about their participation in Hasselt, on 26th November 2005.