Today, 18 March, the Heads of Delegations of all countries taking part in the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest are meeting in Malmö, Sweden. The final versions and videos of the songs will be submitted today and no further changes can be made without express permission from the EBU.
During the meeting, the EBU announced the provisional dates for the next Eurovision Song Contest. Those are the 13 and 15 May for the semi-finals and the 17 for the final. The hosting country retains the right to change those dates if scheduling problems arise.
Running order allocation dates
Today it was also announced that the running order for the semi-finals of this year’s edition of the Eurovision Song Contest will be made known by the 29 March at the latest. On the afternoon of 17 May the running order of the final will be announced.
The start position of the host country Sweden was however drawn today, and they will the 16th country to take to the Malmö Arena stage in the May final-
This year the traditional draw for the allocation of each song’s starting position has been abandoned and the running order will be decided by the producers and approved by the EBU. Jon Ola Sand, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest explained why the decision was made: “We want every song to shine,” he told the Heads of Delegations.
