European Music Festival 2020

The European Music Festival 2019 was the fifth edition of the annual European Music Festival, organised by france·tv and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). It was held on 11 October 2020, at the La Seine Musicale in Paris, France. It was the first time Francehad hosted the contest.

Twenty-two countries participated in the contest. with Armenia, Israel and Poland making they return appearance in the contest. Though Germany, France, Spain and United Kingdom had participated the previous year, they were absent for 2020. Due the covid-19 pandemic situation and travel restrictions the contest had been made online. The event was hosted live from the La Seine Musicale in France and all the competing songs were performed in a studio in each participating country.

It is the first time in the history of contest, when the host country is not taking part in the contest as a participant, but still hosts the edition.

Albania's Elvana Gjata with the song “Me Tana” was the winner of the contest. This was Albania's first victory in the contest. Sweden and Romania finished in second and third place. Finaldn and Ukraine completed the top five, with the former finishing fourth and fifth. Armenia finished last.

Bidding phase and host city selection
After France's victory in 2019 contest in Turin, the French Head of Delegation Alexandra Redde-Amiel stated that france·tv is keen to host the 2020 contest. On 28 October 2019, it was confirmed by the EBU that France would host the 2020 contest. Between 1 and 5 Novemeber 2019, many cities across France expressed interest in hosting the contest. Representatives from cities of Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes, Paris and Strasbourg voiced their interest.

Host broadcaster france·tv launched the bidding process on 10 November 2019. In the first phase of this process, any interested cities were to present their bid through certified email by 22 November 2019, after which france·tv and the EBU would proceed to send all of them a bid book with more detailed requirements for the cities to submit their plans for review.

On 30 November, france·tv announced that 7 cities had submitted their bid for hosting the contest and would be provided the following day with the bid books. They had until 12 December to draft and submit their detailed plans, which 7 cities did. On 20 December, it was reported that Lyon, Paris and Strasbourg would be the cities left in the running to host the contest.

On 10 January 2020, the EBU and france·tv announced Paris as the host city, with the 20,300 capacity Accor Arena as the chosen venue for the contest. On the same date, EBU and host broadcaster france·tv announced that the contest will be held on 11 October 2020.

On 10 May 2020 due the covid-19 pandemic situation and travel restrictions EBU and host broadcaster france·tv announced that this years contest for the first time in history will be remotly - aritsts will perform in their television studios in their origin country. Also the host broadcaster changed the venue to smaller one - La Seine Musicale with the 1,500 seats capacity.

Performances
For the first time in the contest's history, most of the participants were performing remotely, recorded prior to the contest in a television studio in their country of origin. The EBU stated that, "To ensure continuity and the fairness of the competition, EBU Members in the 22 participating countries have agreed to use a similar stage layout and technical set up to capture the performance of their artist(s).

Hosts
On 1 July 2020, it was announced that Élodie Gossuin and Olivier Minne would host the contest.

Opening and interval acta
On 4 August 2020, The EBU relased information about the opening and interval acts.

The final was opened by the traditional flag parade, introducing all twenty-two finalists, accompanied by the Shanguy performing "Désolée (Paris/Paname)". The interval acts included Florina performing her last years winner song "In The Shadow" and Bilal Hassani peforming a medley of "Fais Beleck" and "Fais Le Vide".

Voting
The results will be determined by 50% online voting and 50% jury voting. The online voting is taking place during the live show and starts after the last performance and is open for 15 minutes. International viewers could vote for one country three Times from one phone number. The other half of the points was determined by a national jury from every participating country. These points are then announced live during the programme by a spokesperson representing the participating country. The spokespersons give out the points from each of the participating country.

Running order
The draw for the running order of the contest was held on 5 October in Warsaw after the Opening Ceremony, with Ukraine drawn to open the contest and Finland drawn to close.

Participating countries
On 20 January 2020, the EBU released the official list of participants with 22 competing countries.