Alf Poier, the Austrian singer and comedian who scored a sixth position for his country at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest and finished second in this year's Austrian national final, gave his two cents about his country's withdrawal from the 2006 contest in todays edition of the newspaper Kleine Zeitung. His remarks are not too coaxing for broadcaster ORF.
“Austria is free! Free from the Song Contest and thus free from any intrigues, non-democratic election systems and wrong decisions which are connected to it year after year. In a sense, one should be glad that there won't be any more suicidal actions like Global.Kryner. But then, those responsible for it are still busy working…” Poier commented.
“Any somewhat reputable person would voluntarily pack his bags after such a frontal crash. Not those responsible for this disaster at ORF, who now try to put the blame for their own failure on the Eurovision Song Contest itself. In big parts responsible for Austria's withdrawal from the Contest is the only living Mozartkugel” a ball-shaped chocolate candy “Markus Spiegel. When I competed for Austria in 2003 in Riga, he slandered that 'any artist who is willing to end his career is warmly invited to participate at the European Song Contest'. Two years later, he of all people is ORF's Song Contest consultant. And now, after his failure, he tries to suggest to the Austrians that it would be of no use to participate in this music spectacle any longer.”
Poier added that he is “fed up with the Austrian media dictatorship” and demanded the demission of the Austrian delegation and the “reintroduction of democracy at ORF”. Due to a newly installed regional voting system, Alf Poier finished second at Song.05, the Austrian preselection to Kyiv, despite having earned nearly twice as much televotes than winners Global.Kryner. Following Global.Kryners failure in the semifinal in Kyiv, ORF announced not to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006.
