Italy hasn’t competed since '97.
The Greek government spent some €3 million promoting Elena as official tourist ambassador, which meant her travelling to every country and performing the song on tv, whereas most other countries just sent a videoclip.
Wow! The Greeks must be desperate to get the Eurovision song contest down there next year…then again, they spent a gazillion dollars getting everything set up for the Olympics, so I guess they figure they might as well get their money’s worth.
Still…does this mean every European country is going to now have to pony up some funds to get their disco divas on the air in every country prior to the next Eurovision? That could be scary.
Specualtion in the press around here thinks this is what will happen. The rules say that every country must broadcast all songs prior to the big event*, and traditionally that meant sending a tape from the national contest or a properly produced video. With the success of Greece, a lot of countries will start to try to push their artists on the local talk shows, variety shows or whatever. Considering the quality of most songs and artists, it’s just one more reason to select tv vieweing very carefully.
I think Italy got pissed off because the past few decades has seen them ending up in the lower quarter and their national pride makes them perceive themselves as a big and important music nation. Being beat by Moldava would hurt too much, so they walked away.