RTCG, the Montenegrin national broadcaster, has confirmed that Montenegro will participate at the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Switzerland next year. The Balkan country is returning to the competition after a two year absence.
Montenegrro thus joins the list of countries who have so far confirmed their participation at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Switzerland.
RTCG has published the rules and regulations for Montesong 2024, the national selection which will determine the 2025 Montenegrin Eurovision act and entry. The submission window for the contest is open as of now with the deadline set on 1 October 2024. Once the submission period concludes RTCG’s Selection Committee will whittle down the submitted entries to up to 16 entries for the national final.
The 2025 Montenegrin act and song will be determined via 50/50 expert jury-public jury deliberation.
RTCG’s official press release reads:
After a break of two years, Montenegro will have its own representative at Eurovision 2025. RTCG Announces a public competition for the selection of a composition for the representative of Montenegro and RTCG at the international competition Eurovision Song Contest 2025.
In order to develop and improve musical creativity in the field of popular music, Public Media Service RTCG organizes the selection of representatives of Montenegro for the international competition “Eurovision Song Contest 2025”, which will be held in May 2025 in Switzerland, organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). .
The selection of the composition that will represent Montenegro and RTCG at the contest “Eurovision Song 2025” will take place at the competition, i.e. the festival called “Montesong 2024”.
The selection of the composition that will represent Montenegro and RTCG at the contest “Eurovision Song 2025” will be decided, on the one hand, by the votes of the expert jury, composed of eminent music and media creators, as well as representatives of organizations and associations of citizens involved in monitoring the Eurovision Song Contest, and on the other hand foreign voices of the audience, i.e. citizens of Montenegro. The ratio of votes is determined according to the Eurovision principle – 50% of the jury and 50% of the audience (that is, about 50% due to the rounding of the number in percentages).
The composition that will have the highest number of votes from the expert jury and the audience will be the representative of Montenegro and RTCG at the “Eurovision Song 2025” competition.
Montenegro last participated in Eurovision in 2022, when it was represented by Vladana Vučinić with the song Breathe. For the next two years, Montenegro did not send its representative due to high costs.
Montenegro in Eurovision
Montenegro debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest as a solo country in 2007 with Stefan Faddy and is yet to win the competition. The country achieved its best results in the contest in 2015 with Knez‘s Balkan ballad Adio.
The former Yugoslav republic has only made it to the Eurovision Grand Final on two occasions, namely in 2014 and 2015. The Balkan country has competed in Europe’s favourite television show 12 times.
In 2022 Vladana represented Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin with her entry ‘Breathe‘.