Several internet sites and mailing lists reported that the dates for next year's Eurovision Song Contest are set on 18th and 21st May. “Rumours, rumours, rumours”, Svante Stockselius of the European Broadcasting Union told esctoday.com.

“All dates provided by these sources are wrong, simply because a date has not been set yet”, the Eurovision Song Contest's supervisor said. Several sources spoke about 18th and 21st May, which seems to be unlikely because of the UEFA Cup final, which is planned for 18th May. The marketing for both the Eurovision Song Contest and the UEFA Cup final is in hands of the Swiss company T.E.A.M.

Several other sources reported that Hungary, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic subscribed to participate in next year's contest. “Regarding new participants, the deadline for preliminary participations is around September, so it is too early to say something about it”, Stockselius said.

This weekend, the Ukraine broadcaster NTU and the EBU had a first meeting in Geneva to discuss the outlines for next year's contest. Stockselius will visit Kiev within the upcoming weeks to take a look at the first preparations.