Eurovision fans can sleep easy, as Greece has been green lit to enter the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna.
The entry was in doubt after the country’s state broadcaster ERT ceased operating, and the caretaker channel, NERIT, had not been given broadcasting approval.
Now, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has allowed NERIT to show the competition after agreeing to give it active membership in the union.
“We’re glad to have Greece joining the 60th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. Their dedication to the biggest music event in the world has been impressive throughout the years,” said the contest executive supervisor, Jon Ola Sand.
Last year’s permission to participate in the contest was given as an exception, and saw Freaky Friday make it to the final. They placed 20 out of 26, one of the country’s worst performances in the last two decades. Greece has been one of Eurovision’s most successful and strongest competitors in the last 10 years, and won the contest in 2006 with Elena Paparizou’s My Number One.
Greece has qualified for the final every year since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004.
Next year, Greece will join 38 countries in Vienna to compete for the 60th Eurovision Song Contest. Drag queen Conchita Wurst won the final with the song Rise Like a Phoenix this year, making it Austria’s first win since 1966.