Slovenian Maja Slatinsek withdraws from the Romanian preselection for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest and heads west as her song Time to rise was accepted in the Irish final. The singer as well as the creatot of the song, Ziga Pirnat, feel they stand a better chance in Ireland having to compete against less participants than in Romania.

Time to rise was originally submitted to RTVSLO, the Slovenian broadcaster, but it did not make it to the semi finals. The song was also submitted to the Romanian broadcaster as well and Maja was deliriously happy to be informed she had made it to the semi finals.

Now the very same song has been accepted in the Irish final as well. Maja and Ziga have decided to withdraw it from the Romanian preselection and take their chances in Ireland as they feel they stand a much better chance fighting against five more songs there instead of against twentry three in Romania.“When we found out we had been accepted in Ireland as well we had to make a choice. Romania accepted us with open arms and gave us the happiest day of our lives, Maja’s and mine” says Ziga Pirnat, author and composer of Time to rise. "We had already found sponsors for our big project, started learning Romanian and worked 12 hours daily for the Romanian semi final, but the possibility of being among the irish finalists, one of the biggest powers in Eurovision, was an offer we could not turn down.” he explains. “Once more we thank Romania. We won’t forget, we promise to learn Romanian and continue to promote the Romanian culture and spirit which they proved they have.” Ziga concludes on behalf of Maja and himself.

Monique will now take Maja’s place in the Romanian semi final with Vânt de vara (Summer wind), composed and penned by Dinca Zamfira.