esctoday.com can exclusively confirm that Monaco has withdrawn from the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. We broke the news to the various Eurovision websites at 21:44 CETthis evening. The news has kindly been sent in by Christian Masson of eurovision-info.net. We can now confirm that this news is 100% reliable and indeed, Monaco have withdrawn from the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest.

The Monegasque delegation decide to withdraw from the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest. They will not face any penalties from the European Broadcasting Union because their decision to withdraw comes before the deadline of 14th December.

The news was confirmed exclusively to esctoday.com by Head of the Monegasque delegation, Mr. Philippe Bosco via email this evening.

The Eurovision Song Contestin Helsinki would have been the 26th participation for Monaco. Monaco has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest since 1959. In 1971 the small country won the competition, when Severine performed Un banc un arbre, une rue.

From 1979 to 2003 Monaco did not take part in the Eurovision Song Contest. They returned in 2004, and have competed for the last three yearsbut havenot qualified for the final. Their poor resultshas been sited as one of the key reasons for deciding to withdraw.