Romania has participated in the
Eurovision Song Contest 23 times since its debut in
1994, and has placed in the top ten six times. Its best results were achieved by
Luminița Anghel and Sistem in
2005, and by
Paula Seling and
Ovi in
2010, who both finished in third place. Selecția Națională,[a] a song contest that has been taking place every year[b] in Romania except for
2021, has been used to select the country's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.
In
1993, the year before its first appearance, Romania attempted to debut in the contest, but came last in the
qualifying round. After successfully joining the following year, poor placements followed until 2002, resulting in several relegations. This changed with the introduction of semi-finals to the contest in 2004, after which Romania reached the final 14 times, failing to qualify from the semi-finals in
2018,
2019,
2021 and
2023, the latter finishing with no points.
Contest history
After having had broadcast the contest several times during the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s,[3][4][5][6] Romania unsuccessfully attempted to debut in the
1993 contest, selecting "Nu pleca" by
Dida Drăgan for the qualifying round Kvalifikacija za Millstreet (English: Preselection for Millstreet); Drăgan came in last place.[7] A non-qualification was also achieved in
1996 when there was a
qualifying round for all countries excluding hosts Norway.[8][9] The Eurovision site does not count either year in Romania's list of appearances.[2] The country's first official participation occurred in
1994 when
Dan Bittman's "
Dincolo de nori" placed 21st in the contest's final. The following years saw similar low placements and non-participations in
1995,
1997,
1999 and
2001.[2]
Romania's first top ten result was achieved in
2002, when
Monica Anghel and
Marcel Pavel finished ninth with their song "
Tell Me Why". The country placed within the top 20 every year from
2004 to
2015, claiming third place in
2005 with "
Let Me Try" by
Luminița Anghel and Sistem. As of 2023,[update] this remains Romania's best result in the contest, alongside
Paula Seling and
Ovi's
2010 entry "
Playing with Fire", which also finished third. Since 2010, the country's only other top ten placement was in
2017, when
Ilinca and
Alex Florea reached seventh place with "
Yodel It!".[2]2019 was broadcaster
Televiziunea Română's (TVR) first year to significantly invest in a performance; the costs for the use of graphics and special effects during the show for
Ester Peony's "
On a Sunday" amounted to 100,000 euros.[10][11] Romania had previously introduced the first-ever use of overlays at Eurovision in
2014.[12]
Romania has participated in the contest 22 times, having qualified for the final 14 times since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004, failing to qualify in
2018,
2019,
2021 and
2023.[2] In 2016, the
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) suspended TVR from all EBU member services due to the repeated non-payment of debts and the threat of insolvency. This in turn disqualified
their 2016 entry, "
Moment of Silence" by
Ovidiu Anton, from participating in the contest.[13][14][15][16] Although TVR had selected
Roxen to perform "
Alcohol You" in
2020,[17] the contest was cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.[18] Roxen was internally selected for 2021 nonetheless, performing "
Amnesia".[19][20] After failing to qualify for the final in four out of its latest five participations, Romania opted not to take part in the
2024 contest.[21]
Selecția Națională,[a] a song contest which has been taking place every year in Romania except for 2021, has been used to select its entry for the contest. The first edition was held in 1993, with the winner chosen by 1100 households in the country.[7] Since then, several voting procedures have been used, often combining
televoting with the votes of a jury panel.[24][25][26] The selection of the winner either occurred during one show,[27] or through a varying amount of semi-finals.[25][28] For the first time, a part of Romania's entry was determined internally in 2020. Roxen was selected by TVR out of exclusive partner
Global Records's roster, and was appointed five songs for a jury and the public to choose from.[29][30][31][1] The broadcaster and the label also collaborated the following year for the internal selection of Roxen and her entry.[32][33]
The public broadcaster of each participating country in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the contestants, songwriters, composers and backing vocalists, among others.[44]
A five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals is made up for every participating country for the semi-finals and final of the Eurovision Song Contest, ranking all entries except for their own country's contribution. The juries' votes constitute 50% of the overall result alongside televoting.[70]
For the show's broadcast on TVR,[2] various commentators and dual commentators have been hired throughout the years, with
Leonard Miron notably having done the job on seven occasions.[81] At Eurovision, after all points are calculated, the presenters of the show call upon each voting country to invite their respective spokesperson to announce the results of their vote on-screen.[82]
In contests where an orchestra was provided, a
conductor was required to lead the musicians during each country's performance. Broadcasters were able to provide their own conductors, or could call upon the services of the conductor appointed by the host broadcaster.[122] For 1993's Kvalifikacija za Millstreet pre-selection round, George Natsis conducted the Romanian entry.[123] In 1994 and 1998, Irish host conductor
Noel Kelehan and Romanian conductor Adrian Romcescu – also the composer of "Eu cred" – were hired, respectively.[124][125]
^
abPronounced [seˈlektsi.anatsi.oˈnalə], meaning "The National Selection". The contest is sometimes referred to by local media and TVR as Eurovision România.[22][23]
^Only the song was chosen through Selecția Națională in 2020, with the artist having been internally selected.[1]
^A
qualifying round was held for new countries looking to make their debut at the 1993 contest. Romania failed to progress from this round; entries which failed to progress have subsequently been discounted by the EBU and do not feature as part of the countries' list of appearances.
^In order to reduce the number of participating countries at the 1996 event a
qualifying round was held among all countries except the hosts. Romania failed to progress from this round; entries which failed to progress have subsequently been discounted by the EBU and do not feature as part of the countries' list of appearances.
^
abcAccording to the
then-Eurovision rules, the top ten non-
Big Four countries from the previous year along with the Big Four automatically qualified for the final without having to compete in semi-finals. For example, if two Big Four countries were placed inside the top ten, the 11th and 12th spots would be advanced to next year's final, along with all countries ranked in the top ten.[43]
^The results of the Romanian jury were not taken into consideration for the contest's second semi-final and final since the EBU detected alleged "irregular voting patterns" in them. As a result, Romania was given a "substitute aggregated result" based on countries with similar voting patterns.[77][78]
^Eda Marcus was supposed to announce Romania's results during the final, however she was replaced by the EBU with the contest's executive supervisor
Martin Österdahl due to alleged technical difficulties. Contradictory to the EBU, TVR claimed that no technical difficulties had occurred during the jury voting segment of the final.[120][121]
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn:
Telos Publishing. pp. 369–381.
ISBN978-1-84583-065-6.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn:
Telos Publishing. pp. 352–365.
ISBN978-1-84583-093-9.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2016). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Three: The 1980s. Prestatyn:
Telos Publishing. pp. 86–103.
ISBN978-1-84583-118-9.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2020). Songs For Europe - The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Four: The 1990s. UK:
Telos Publishing. pp. 65–76.
ISBN978-1-84583-163-9.
^Firtat, Simona (23 March 2005).
"Ne permitem sa castigam Eurovision-ul?" [Do we afford winning Eurovision?] (in Romanian). BaniiNostri.ro.
Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019 – via HotNews.ro.
^Kvalifikacija za Millstreet.
Ljubljana, Slovenia. 3 April 1993.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2020). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Four: The 1990s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. p. 175.
ISBN978-1-84583-163-9.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2020). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Four: The 1990s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. p. 336.
ISBN978-1-84583-163-9.