The fans have spoken, Allen Ivanic's on line petition seems to have done it ! “It�s no use swimming against the current”, admitted Mr Edgar Böhm, ORF�s responsible executive for Eurovision to local newspaper Kleinen Zeitung. Austrian website 'Eurovision Austria' broke the news on Friday evening, Austria is set to return to the Eurovision Song Contest next year.

ORF, the National Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, has confirmed that Austria is plannning to return to Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki. If they return, they would be back in the semifinal line up in Helsinki on10th May 2007. "It’s no use swimming against the current", admitted Mr Edgar Böhm, ORF’s responsible executive for Eurovision to local newspaper Kleinen Zeitung.

The song and the artists will be internally selected by ORF and they will be revealed in January 2007.

The big question still remains: what will happen when too many countries join Eurovision Song Contest? And how many are 'too many'?

esctoday.com opened up the debate about the 40 country rule on October 14th with our 'Eurovision Song Contest full?' article. The article was meant to spark an informative discussion about what fans think should happen. So far, there are more than 150 reactions. Click here to have your say.

One of the main reasons that a cap was placed on the number of participating countries was to appease broadcasters who are concerned about the length of both the semifinal and the final. Broadcasters subscribe to the Eurovision Song Contest, but they also have their own shows, schedules and charters which must be adhered to. Some broadcasters were finding it increasingly difficult to incorporate the Eurovision Song Contest in it's previous format. This was a major reason for the number of finalists being limitedto 24.

The concept of having two semi-finals is also unpopular amongst certain broadcasters, who would then have scheduling problems in broadcasting 3 'long' shows in one week. Thus if more than 40 countries enter and the limit is, as is almost certain for 2007 at least, kept at 40, who do you think should be left out? Answers on a reaction below, please.