Global.Kryner, the Turbo-folk Alpine band who flew the Eurovision flag for Austria at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest semifinal, saw national broadcaster ORF withdraw from the 2006 contest due to the disappointing result and failure to reach the final. Now, it seems, Austrian fans are following the recent Spanish example by filing a petition to convince ORF to enter again.

The online petition, hosted at petitiononline.com, has been started by members of OGAE Austria as a last-ditch attempt to convince the broadcaster to submit an entry for Helsinki 2007. The accompanying letter, addressed to ORF, points out that many countries have continued to participate despite poor results, stressing that "it is very important not to be discouraged by failures".

Big international interest in Austria
International signatures are encouraged in order to show "the big interest in Austria" and hopefully upturn ORF's decision, which has not yet officially been revoked.

There is already an established trend for fan petitions to national broadcasters, the most recent example being the Spanish site eurovisioncontest.net's letter to TVE, asking for more commitment and a transparent, public selection procedure. The success of petitions varies, and it remains to be seen if ORF or TVE respond publicly to the growing fan pressure for change.