In the past few hours, it has been announced that Austria would participate at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo, breaking a 2-year long absence from the competition. Our partners at eurovision-austria.com have contacted Mr. Bjørn Erichsen, director of Eurovision TV, to clarify the issue. Mr. Erichsen stated that the return of Austria, as well as Italy, Luxembourg and the debut of Liechtenstein is still an EBU's “hope”.
Mr. Erichsen visited Minsk, Belarus, to check the features of the venue where the 2010 Junior Eurovision Song Contest is going to be held. There, the director of Eurovision TV expressed EBU's wish to see countries that have withdrawn from Eurovision in the past (Austria, Italy, Luxembourg) return, as well as Liechtenstein fulfilling all formalities to join the competition.
Therefore, at this stage, the return of Austria to the Eurovision Song Contest is not confirmed.
The last time Austria participated in Eurovision was back in 2007, Helsinki, when Eric Papilaya didn't manage to go through the final with the song Get a life/Get alive.
