After being absent from the contest for 25 years Monaco has returned to the Eurovision! Through all those years a lot has changed: the number of competing countries is much higher (35 altogether this year), there are two shows for the first time, tele-voting instead of a jury, no orchestra, English being the main language in which the songs are sung… and so on and so on… After Monaco's one and only victory in 1971 with Séverine singing "Un Banc, Un Arbre, Une Rue" the country with the small size of only 2 sqkm has done respectably well. Their entries became popular all over Europe - songs like "Toi, La Musique Et Moi" ("You, The Music And Me") sung by Mary Christy (The Hague 1976). The return of Monaco adds another French speaking country to the contest, which for sure will help improving the variety in languages.

Out of over 500 competitors Monaco has chosen the 16 year old Maryon from La-Seyne-Sur-Mer with her song "Notre Planète" ("Our Planet"). The song is about the Mediterranean sea and its need for protection. There have been songs with an ecological background at the Eurovision before like Cyprus' entry called "S.O.S." (Rome 1991) - they never were awarded many points though. Nevertheless Monaco's Price Albert thought it is an important topic to sing about and he was one of the first to congratulate Maryon personally. Welcome back Monaco!