MaltaMedia.com

The first stage of the Maltese national selection for Eurovision 2010, Malta Eurosong, which was scheduled to kick off on 9th November has been postponed and the broadcaster PBS has not yet announced the new dates for their plans. This comes as a result of legal disputes between the Maltese public TV station and former chairperson of Malta Eurosong, Grace Borg.

Despite these problems, the Maltese Head of Delegation, Mr. Joe Dimech, has denied that the whole national selection process is in danger. PBS, at the moment, is seeking legal advice as to the way to proceed with the national competition for Eurovision 2010, according to his statement.

As announced earlier, this year’s Malta Eurosong would be included as a part of the entertainment programme L-Isfida. The latter already started earlier this week, which means that the broadcaster will have to hurry up in order to carry on with their Eurovision plans successfully.

Meanwhile, www.ogaemalta.com has reported from inside informers that the boxes containing the submissions for the Malta Eurosong 2010 are still sealed. Organisers of the next Malta Eurosong edition at PBS were instructed not to open the boxes containing all submitted entries as yet. This also means that the officials at PBS are not in a position to confirm how many entries were submitted for the Malta Eurosong 2010.

The boxes containing all entries submitted by local composers, lyricists and singers were meant to be opened earlier this week. All participants are still awaiting details regarding the first selection phase, also referred to by the artists themselves as ‘The Audition’ phase.

Following a change in rules, only Maltese citizens could submit entries for the 2010 festival. Participants holding a dual citizenship, including a Maltese one, were given the green light to submit entries. Red lights were shown to foreign participants. The former Maltasong chairperson, believed that this was unjust and not in line with EU regulations.

Malta was represented this year in Moscow by Chiara, who already represented her country back in 1998 and 2005. The singer was quite successful on her two first attempts, placing 3rd with The one that I love in 1998 and 2nd with Angel in 2005, not reaching these high placings in 2009, taking 22nd spot with What if we.

More information about the Eurovision can be found at www.eurovisionmalta.com

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