This year 's Eurovision contest was the first to be a two-day event , with one qualifying round held on a Wednesday and the grand final held on the following Saturday . Under this new format , byes into the final were given to the ' Big 4 ' ; France , Germany , Spain and the United Kingdom ( as the largest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union ) and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2003 contest . Andorra , Albania , Belarus and Serbia and Montenegro participated in the Contest for the first time , with Monaco returning after a 25-year absence . Luxembourg were due to return after an absence of 11 years , but later pulled out after money issues arose between RTL and the EBU . All participating countries had the right to vote in both the qualifying round and the grand final . This was the first year in which all 36 participating countries voted based on a public phone vote . However France , Poland and Russia did not broadcast the semi-final ( as they were not participating in it ) and therefore did not give votes for it like the other thirty-three countries . In Belgium , the French-language RTBF did not broadcast the semi-final , but the Dutch-language VRT did
2003 contest
Eurovision Song Contest 2003
Eurovision Song Contest 2004