Romania will compete in the second semifinal of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest on May 16 in Malmo, Sweden, while the final will follow on May 18.

The Eurovision 2013 song contest will feature 39 countries of which 16 are in the first semifinal on May 14 and 17 other countries will be competing in the second seminal, on May 16.

Romania will compete against Latvia, Azerbaijan, Malta, Iceland, San Marino, Macedonia, Finland, Bulgaria, Israel, Norway, Albania, Hungary, Switzerland, Georgia, Greece and Armenia in the second semifinal.  Romania is yet to organize its internal competition to pick the song which will represent the country in May. Last year, Romania was represented by Mandinga, which came 12th. Sweden won the contest and thus organizes this year's show.

Romania's best performance in the competition were: the third place for Luminita Anghel & Sistem - Kiev in 2005 and for Paula Seling and Ovi, in Oslo, in 2010, and the fourth place  for Mihai Traistariu - Athens in 2006 . The Romanian song with the highest score obtained in the Eurovision final (172 points) is "Tornero", composed by Eduard Cîrcotă and sung by MihaiTrăistariu.

Eurovision is the biggest international music competition organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) - the largest association of public broadcasters in Europe - which takes place every year since 1956.

European Broadcasting Union is an association based in Geneva, known in particular for organizing Eurovision competition. EBU currently brings together 74 stations of 56 countries in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.  The Romanian Television TVR is also part of the EBU.

Ioana Toader, ioana.toader@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Eurovision official website)