Georgia is interested to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest from next year on. NewsGeorgia.ru wrote that yesterday. While the news quickly spreads over the internet, an official confirmation from Geneva is still missing…

Membership
A delegation representing the Georgian public broadcaster GRTV and record company Step Records will head to Kyiv to discuss the possibilities. As GRTV is an associate member of the European Broadcasting Union, and not an active member, they can not participate under the current membership. This means that GRTV has to change its membership status before the Georgian national broadcaster can subscribe for next year's Eurovision Song Contest.

National selection
Step Records announced that, in case they get confirmation, the first phase of the national selection can take place already this summer. The first Georgian Eurovision Song Contest participant should be chosen by a jury, of which the names will stay confidential, and should be presented somewhere in December or January.

Long way to go
However the Minister of Culture, Monuments Protection and Sport George Gabashvili declared his support for Georgia's Eurovision Song Contest participation, there is still a long way to go. With a current maximum of 40 participating countries and more broadcasters interested to join in 2006, the EBU stands for the difficult task to turn down participation requests or to change the format of the contest again. GRTV's current associate membership status might not work in the broadcaster's advance, but the EBU is likely to search for another solution instead of refusing broadcasters to join the longest running television music event.

Show up?
In a reaction, Eurovision Song Contest supervisor Svante Stockselius said that “Georgia indeed showed interest”. “However, one can never say if they will really sign up for participation in the end”, he added, referring to the possibility that negotations can either be succesful or fail.