Earlier this evening, the news broke that France will be returning to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest after their one and only participation back in 2004.

Thomas Pontier finished 6th in Lillehammar with the song “Si on voulait bien”. The return comes after a couple of years on the rumour mill. This brings the total number of countries participating in Minsk to 10 after Wales only announced their debut a matter of days ago.

Edoardo Grassi, the French Head of Delegation explained that:

“We will solicit voice coaches, singing schools and launch an online form to designate internally our candidate.”

With the France 2’s Head of Entertainment adding:

“This initiative is part of our desire to offer on-air talent shows representative of what we want to do and that we do not see elsewhere and it contributes to the European dimension that we want to give our programs.”

Author: Richard Taylor

Source: Eurovision Ireland