The European Broadcasting Union will investigate the accusations of plagiarism against the song Zauvijek moja, formally still the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest entry of Serbia & Montenegro. Meanwhile, fanclub OGAE Serbia & Montenegro formally replied to the 'crisis situation'.

What happened?
For those who need a quick update on what happened before, we advice you to read the article Zeljko Joksimovic: selection “deeply unfair”

Investigation by the EBU
It seems the EBU took the complaints about Zauvijek moja very serious. “We will investigate the song, performed by No Name, based on formal complaints we received”, contest supervisor Svante Stockselius said to the Montengrin newspaper Republica. Apart from the accusations that Zauvijek moja contains elements of another song, entitledPoljem se vija Zordelija, the EBU also received a complaint about possible plagiarism. One listening to the song No voy a llorar, performed by Monica Narano, indeed has to conclude that the songs have similarities, but professional ears are needed to conclude if it's a case of plagiarism or not.

In case the EBU concludes that No Name's song is indeed plagiarism, the song will have to be disqualified according to the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest and RTS and RTCG have to send another song to Kiev. The procedure has to take place before 21st of March, the day the heads of the delegations officially submit their songs to the EBU.

Third complaint
If those two complaints weren't enough, the EBU also received a complaint about the voting procedure in the national selection. To Republica, Stockselius confirmed there were “several complaints”, although their names have been kept silent to protect their privacy. In the past days, several media in Serbia and Montenegro paid attention to the situation. In a reaction to esctoday.com, earlier this week, Montenegrin broadcaster RTCG said it didn't influence the voting at the national final in any way. During the final, all of the Montenegrin jury members awarded 0 points to the Serbian favourite Jutro. Read the complete statement given by RTCG here.

OGAE Serbia & Montenegro
“It�s completely clear that the voting of the jury from Montenegro was under any professional level (…). Otherwise, how could one explain that the 13 songs (out 23) from the Serbian national selection received just above 9% of the total number of their votes”, OGAE Serbia & Montenegro wrote in a statement. “The winning song got 32,607 votes and that is ten times more than the number of votes the same group recieved just two days ago during Montevizija 2005”, they added.

Poll
In a poll among esctoday.com members, 62 percent of the voters (a total of 300) agreed that the final national selection in Serbia & Montenegro went unfair. Although the poll is in no way scientifically approved, it at least indicates how the international audience thinks about the situation.

At this moment, the verdict has to come from the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group. The first meeting of the Reference Group is scheduled for 23rd of March, but this situation in combination with the 21st of March deadline almost forces the Reference Group to act immediately. Thus, most likely to be continued!