| Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest | |
|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest | |
 | |
| Former participating broadcaster | Télé Monte-Carlo (TMC; 1959–2006) |
| Participation summary | |
| Appearances | 24 (21 finals) |
| First appearance | 1959 |
| Last appearance | 2006 |
| Highest placement | 1st:1971 |
| External links | |
Monaco's page at Eurovision.tv | |
 For the most recent participation seeMonaco in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 | |
Monaco has been represented at theEurovision Song Contest 24 times since its debut in1959. The country's only win in the contest came in1971, with "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" performed bySéverine. As a result, Monaco was expected to host the contest in1972, but it ultimately declined. The Monégasque participating broadcaster in the contest wasTélé Monte-Carlo (TMC). Monaco is the onlymicrostate to have won the contest to date.
Monaco finished last at its first contest in 1959 before achieving three top three results in the 1960s. Two of these were achieved byFrançois Deguelt, who finished third with "Ce soir-là" in1960 and second with "Dis rien" in1962. "Où sont-elles passées" byRomuald also finished third in1964. Severine's victory in 1971 was the first of five top four results in eight years. The others were achieved with "Celui qui reste et celui qui s'en va" by Romuald (who returned to place fourth in1974), "Toi, la musique et moi" byMary Christy who was third in1976, "Une petite française" byMichèle Torr, fourth in1977, and "Les Jardins de Monaco" by Caline andOlivier Toussaint who were fourth in1978. After participating in1979, Monaco was absent from the contest for 25 years.
Monaco is the only country along withMorocco to have internally selected all of its participants.
Monaco returned to the contest for three years from2004 to2006 but failed to qualify for the final on all three occasions. TMC then withdrew from the contest, stating thatregional voting patterns in the contest have effectively given Monaco no chance of qualifying for the final.[1][2]
Télé Monte-Carlo (TMC) was a full member of theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU), thus eligible to participate in theEurovision Song Contest. It participated in the contest representing Monaco since itsfourth edition in 1959.
TMC participated in the contest 21 times between its debut in 1959 and1979. Afterwards the it withdrew from the contest for financial reasons and lack of interest.[3] It only returned in2004, 25 years after its last participation.[4] It withdrew again in2007, after failing to qualify for the final for three consecutive years.[5]
Monaco won the contest in1971 with the song "Un banc, un arbre, une rue", performed bySéverine.[6] The Monégasque victory is rather uncommon 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 ofLuxembourg'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 in1962. It has placed third three times, in1960,1964, and1976; and last twice, in1959 and1966.[10] Monaco is among the eight countries which finished last on their first participation, the others beingAustria,Portugal,Malta,Turkey,Lithuania, theCzech Republic, andSan Marino.
Monaco is the only country that has won the contest but has never organised it. After winning in 1971, TMC planned to organise the1972 contest as an open-air show, setting the date in June rather than in early spring.[11] Due to a lack of funding, TMC sought help from the French public broadcaster, theOffice de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF), which agreed to organise the contest. Because TMC wanted the contest to be held in Monaco while ORTF wanted it in France, negotiations never came through. In July 1971, TMC informed the EBU that it was unable to organise the contest.[12] The EBU askedSpain'sTelevisión Española (TVE) andGermany'sARD, which respectively finished second and third at the 1971 contest. Since both broadcasters declined to host the 1972 contest, it was eventually held by theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) inEdinburgh.[11]
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), andSéverine Ferrer (2006), failed to qualify for the final. TMC broadcast the2007 contest, making the country eligible to participate in the2008 contest, but TMC decided against it.[13][14]
TMC had announced that it was possible Monaco would return to the contest in2009 after a two-year absence, following talks with the EBU, as well as new voting measures implemented in the contest that year.[15] Despite this, Monaco did not compete inMoscow in 2009.[16] The EBU announced they would work harder to bring Monaco back into the contest in2010 alongside other lapsed participants.
The former head of the Monégasque delegation Philippe Boscagli accused certain countries of geopolitical voting, alleging the existence ofEastern European,Nordic, andOld 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 theTF1 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 that 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]
On 22 November 2021,L'Observateur de Monaco reported that €100,000 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'sTF1 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 in2023.[20] However, the channel's launch was later delayed to 1 September 2023.[21][22] Upon its launch, TVMonaco became a member ofMonaco 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 the2024 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-bornMinouche Barelli, who represented the principality in1967, 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 asFrançoise Hardy andMichèle Torr.Luxembourg, another small country, also sent a great number of French artists to the contest. At the1967 contest, the Monegasque entry, "Boum-Badaboum", sung byMinouche Barelli, was written bySerge Gainsbourg. He had already composed the winning entry in1965, "Poupée de cire, poupée de son", sung byFrance Gall for Luxembourg.[29] Jean Jacques, who represented Monaco in1969, 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]
| 1 | First place |
| 2 | Second place |
| 3 | Third place |
| ◁ | Last place |
| Year | Head of delegation | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Philippe Boscagli | [31] |
| Year | Conductor | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Franck Pourcel[a] | [32] |
| 1960 | Raymond Lefèvre | [32] |
| 1961 | [32] | |
| 1962 | [32] | |
| 1963 | [32] | |
| 1964 | Michel Colombier | [32] |
| 1965 | Raymond Bernard | [32] |
| 1966 | Alain Goraguer | [32] |
| 1967 | Aimé Barelli | [32] |
| 1968 | Michel Colombier | [32] |
| 1969 | Hervé Roy | [32] |
| 1970 | Jimmy Walter | [33] |
| 1971 | Jean-Claude Petit | [33] |
| 1972 | Raymond Bernard | [33] |
| 1973 | Jean-Claude Vannier | [33] |
| 1974 | Raymond Donnez | [33] |
| 1975 | André Popp | [33] |
| 1976 | Raymond Donnez | [33] |
| 1977 | Yvon Rioland | [33] |
| 1978 | [33] | |
| 1979 | Gérard Salesses | [33] |
| Year | Channel(s) | Commentator(s) | Spokesperson | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Télé Monte-Carlo Radio Monte-Carlo | Robert Beauvais[b](TMC) Unknown(RMC) | Did not participate | [34][35][36] |
| 1958 | No broadcast | N/A | ||
| 1959 | Télé Monte-Carlo Radio Monte-Carlo | [37] | ||
| 1960 | Télé Monte-Carlo | |||
| 1961 | Télé Monte-Carlo Radio Monte-Carlo | Robert Beauvais[b] | [38][39] | |
| 1962 | [40][c] | |||
| 1963 | Télé Monte-Carlo | Pierre Tchernia[b] | ||
| 1964 | Robert Beauvais[b] | [42] | ||
| 1965 | ||||
| 1966 | ||||
| 1967 | ||||
| 1968 | ||||
| 1969 | ||||
| 1970 | ||||
| 1971 | No spokesperson | |||
| 1972 | ||||
| 1973 | ||||
| 1974 | Sophie Hecquet | |||
| 1975 | ||||
| 1976 | ||||
| 1977 | ||||
| 1978 | ||||
| 1979 | ||||
| 1980–2003 | No broadcast | Did not participate | N/A | |
| 2004 | TMC Monte Carlo | Bernard Montiel [fr] | Anne Allegrini | |
| 2005 | Bernard Montiel andGenie Godula [fr] | |||
| 2006 | Bernard Montiel andÉglantine Éméyé [fr] | Églantine Éméyé | ||
| 2007–2025 | No broadcast | Did not participate | N/A | |
Présentation pour la France et les pays de langue française : Robert Beauvais[Presentation for France and the French-speaking countries: Robert Beauvais]
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