Lena Meyer-Landrut, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 for Germany, returned to her home town Hannover yesterday, where she was welcomed by 40,000 fans and the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Christian Wulff. The arrival was also shown on two channels on television, where it was watched by about 5.5 million people in total.

Christian Wulff gave Lena a bouquet flowers stating that this is usually the way he welcomes presidents from abroad. He also sent greetings from chancellor Angela Merkel, who said that Lena is a "wonderful expression of young Germany". German Minister of State Guido Westerwelle said: "She is an ambassador of our country who disproved some old prejudices within one night."

Stefan Raab, who discovered Lena during the talent search Unser Star für Oslo, has made a statement that the singer should compete in the next Eurovision Song Contest again, to which Lena responded that she would do it. Although widely considered to be a joke, more information on the issue will be revealed during a press conference today at 12:00 CET. Previously, it had been announced that the same format would be used again to select the German entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011.

Meanwhile, some towns have expressed interest in hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Apart from Hannover and Hamburg, who are both in the area of responsible broadcaster NDR, prime minister Jürgen Rüttgers has suggested that the contest could be held somewhere in North-Rhine Westphalia. Berlin, capital of Germany, has also been mentioned.