The new millennium saw a sea
change in many countries fortunes with more and more entrants
from the former Soviet Union leading to a massive issue with
neighbour and diaspora voting, most shamelessly in those
countries and those of the former Yugoslavia, that threatens the
very future of the event. The power base in Eurovision has
most definitely moved to the East and South of the continent and
to a select bunch of countries within that region. Look at
the table below. Whilst Serbia/Montenegro no longer
exists, the other members of the top seven are leaving the rest
behind due to their vast armies of ex-patriots, encouraged by a
voting system that the organizers seem happy to leave in place.
The free
language rule changed just before the millennium and this may or
may not be related to the UK and Ireland's quite spectacular
plummet down the table.
