Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest

Monaco participated in the contest 21 times between its debut in 1959 and 1979. Afterwards the country withdrew from the contest for financial reasons and lack of interest.^[3] It only returned in 2004, 25 years after its last participation.^[4] It withdrew again in 2007, after failing to qualify for the final for three consecutive years.^[5]

Monaco won the contest in 1971 with the song "Un banc, un arbre, une rue", performed by Séverine.^[6] The Monégasque victory is rather rare in the history of Eurovision as neither the songwriter, the singer, nor musical director were from the country they represented, something which was also the case with four of Luxembourg's five victories. Séverine furthermore declared to journalists that she had never set foot in Monaco, forgetting that the song's music video was filmed there.^[7] Séverine's producer was dishonest with her and stole her prize, thus she never got paid for her victory, even after suing him.^[8] Nevertheless, the singer is still a great fan of the contest.^[9]

Monaco's next best placing is second place, which it has achieved once in 1962. It has placed third three times, in 1960, 1964 and 1976; and last twice, in 1959 and 1966.^[10] Monaco is among the eight countries which finished last on their first participation, the others being Austria, Portugal, Malta, Turkey, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and San Marino.

Host country

Monaco is the only country that has won the contest but has never organised it. After winning in 1971, the country planned to organise the 1972 contest as an open-air show, setting the date in June rather than early spring.^[11] However, due to a lack of funding, Télé Monte Carlo sought help from the French public broadcaster, ORTF, which accepted to organise the contest. Because TMC wanted the contest to be held in Monaco while ORTF wanted it in France, negotiations never came through. Because of this, Monaco deferred the decision to the EBU.^[12] The EBU asked Spain and Germany, which respectively finished second and third at the 1971 contest, but both countries declined to host the 1972 contest. It was eventually organised by the BBC in Edinburgh.^[11]

Absence

Monaco was absent from the contest between 1980 and 2003, before returning for three years from 2004 to 2006. During its three-year return, all the artists representing the country, Maryon (2004), Lise Darly (2005) and Séverine Ferrer (2006), failed to qualify for the final. TMC broadcast the 2007 contest, making the country eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, but TMC decided against it.^[13][14]

TMC had announced that it was possible Monaco would return to the contest in 2009 after a two-year absence, following talks with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), as well as new voting measures implemented in the contest that year.^[15] Despite this, Monaco did not compete in Moscow in 2009.^[16] The EBU announced they would work harder to bring Monaco back into the contest in 2010 alongside other lapsed participants.

The former head of the Monégasque delegation Philippe Boscagli accused certain countries of geopolitical voting, alleging the existence of Eastern European, Nordic and Old European voting blocs, henceforth hindering Monaco's chances for qualification. With regards to the non-qualification of the Monégasque entry in 2006, "La Coco-Dance", he claimed that the audience voted more for the show than the song. Furthermore, TMC is now part of the TF1 Group, the leading private broadcaster in France, and is now^[when?] available everywhere in France. TMC programs no longer revolve around the principality. As TF1 Group is the biggest competitor to the French public channels, it is unlikely that TMC would again broadcast the contest. When TMC did so between 2004 and 2006, its audience was much smaller than the one of the French public channel. In those years, it was the government and the municipality of Monaco who chose the contestant and funded the delegation, while it is usually the responsibility of a broadcaster or a producer.^[17]

Possible return

On 22 November 2021, L'Observateur de Monaco reported that 100,000 Euros have been allocated towards "initiating the application of the Principality to the Eurovision 2023 competition" in the state budget for 2022.^[18] Monaco’s potential return to the contest would have required co-operation between the Monégasque government and broadcaster TMC which is owned by France's TF1 Group,^[19] however, in December 2021, the Monégasque government announced the launch of a new national public broadcaster, TVMonaco, which would be fully owned by the government, opening up a possibility of Monaco returning to the contest under the sponsorship of the Monégasque government starting in 2023.^[20] However, the channel's launch was later delayed to 1 September 2023.^[21][22] Upon its launch, TVMonaco became a member of Monaco Media Diffusion, the broadcasting company which represents Monaco in the EBU, meaning that the country is, starting in 2024, once again eligible to participate in Eurovision events.^[23][24] However, TVMonaco decided against taking part in the 2024 contest.^[25] The broadcaster's editor-in-chief, Frédéric Cauderlier, ascribed the decision to the tight deadline and to being forced to concentrate on other matters in the early stages of the launch.^[26] The broadcaster gained full independent EBU membership in late March 2024.^[27]

Due to the country's very small size, all Monaco's entrants came from outside the principality, although French-born Minouche Barelli, who represented the principality in 1967, shared her time between Paris and Monaco, acquired Monegasque citizenship in 2002, and died in the principality on 20 February 2004 at the age of 56.^[28] The large majority of the participants were French, with also one Yugoslavian, Tereza Kesovija, and one Luxembourgish, Mary Christy (born Marie Ruggeri). Several singers selected to represent Monaco are key figures of the French scene, such as Françoise Hardy and Michèle Torr. Luxembourg, another small country, also sent a great number of French artists to the contest. At the 1967 contest, the Monegasque entry, "Boum-Badaboum", sung by Minouche Barelli, was written by Serge Gainsbourg. He had already composed the winning entry in 1965, "Poupée de cire, poupée de son", sung by France Gall for Luxembourg.^[29] Jean Jacques, who represented Monaco in 1969, was the first child to take part in Eurovision. He was 12 years old, making him the first preteen to participate and the first participant to be born after the inauguration of the contest.^[30]

Heads of delegation

Conductors

Commentators and spokespersons