As reported the Portuguese delegation and representatives of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) would be meeting up to discuss matters for next year Eurovision Song Contest in Portugal. That has happened indeed: the Portuguese delegation has travelled to the EBU headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland so they and the Reference Group could get to know eachother.

The Reference Group takes decisions on the contest in general and also oversees the organisation of the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in question. (For more information on the work and composition of the Reference Group, look here!).

See a short overview here:

At the meeting the contest in Kyiv was discussed and reviewed first before the RTP delegation presented both themselves and their plans for next year’s contest. They have shown the EBU possible venues, which is important since a venue has to meet all of the EBU requirements (some of which include: a big enough audience capacity, safety requirements, enough hotels in the vicinity, an airport not too far away etc.).

Carla Bugalho Trindade, Head of Delegation for Portugal reflects on Portugal’s historical win and says:

We won for the first time, it was a wonderful experience to finally hear ‘Portugal 12 points’ but we did not expect to win, the main goal was to qualify for the final. When we won, it could not have been better. Everyone stood still to watch the TV, everyone wanted to see Salvador win. It was amazing, a very special moment.

But the Portuguese team had their minds on work mode back then already, as Cristina Tomé, Chief Finance Officer at RTP tells:

We were really happy, we were expecting this for more than 50 years. It was good for our country and for us at RTP. We celebrated of course but we got to work right away. I sent messages to my colleagues, read the documentation given to us by Jon Ola Sand at the winning press conference and we then began to set up the core team.

Since then several conference calls between the EBU and RTP have already been made and RTP have had a workshop from the EBU yesterday on all kinds of topics concerning hosting, ranging from venue to transportation in host cities.

Cristina Tomé says that when the team is home again, they will finalise the work that is choosing the venue and host city selection, including dates for Eurovision 2018.

The Reference Group says: so far, so good!