Romania

Romania has participated in The Song three times since its debut in the first edition, achieving its best result and first qualification in the second edition by Minelli, finishing in fifteenth place. E altceva, a song contest that has been taking place every edition in Romania except for the first edition, has been used to select the country's entry for The Song. Romania's only internal selection took place in the debut edition.

In the second edition, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced the inclusion of broadcaster Televiziunea Română (TVR) in the EBU council, thus making it one of the governing members of the contest.

Contest history
Romania was one of the 44 initial countries that made their debut in the first edition of The Song. Since the first edition, their participation has been managed by Televiziunea Română (TVR), the Romanian public television broadcaster.

The Song 1
The country made its debut with "Atât de noi" performed by EMAA, who was internally selected in co-operation with record label Global Records. Global Records presented EMAA as an artist that simply sounds different, and was thus deemed the most fit to debut Romania in the contest. Romania was drawn to perform in the second half of the first semi-final, and it was later revealed that the country would perform in 17th position, following Spain and preceding Denmark. This also marked the first time the Romanian language was heard at the contest. Despite the effort, Romania failed to qualify for the final, finishing in 12th place with 115 points (13th with the juries, 9th with the televoting).

The Song 2
Not being able to reach a desired result, TVR completely revamped its selection process for the second edition. E altceva (transl. "It's something different") was presented as the Romanian national selection for The Song, with the sole purpose of finding an entry that simply sounds different. Once more, TVR partnered with Global Records in order to draw in the biggest names in Romanian music and to guarantee a lineup filled with quality acts.

20 unique acts took part in the selection that consisted of two semi-finals, and a final. The three live shows were hosted by Romanian presenter Eda Marcus and singer Feli. In the end, Minelli won and went onto represent Romania in the second edition of The Song with "MMM". This was also the first time Romania performed their entry in.

Romania was drawn to perform in the second half of the first semi-final, and it was later revealed that the country would perform in the 13th position, following Switzerland and preceding Luxembourg. For the first time in its participation history, Romania qualified for the final, placing 9th with 139 points (3rd with the juries, 14th with the televoting), and was drawn to perform in the first half of the grand final. It was then revealed that Romania would perform in the sixth position, following Monaco and preceding Israel. Romania finished in 15th place, scoring 90 points (14th with the juries, 17th with the televoting).

The Song 3
After a successful participation, Romania kept to a familiar format in the third edition, and continued E altceva with a better-structured format. Due to allegations of TVR favouring artists signed with Global Records, the partnership was dropped and instead an open call for artists wishing to participate was held. In total, 10 acts were chosen to take part in a single final. The final was won by Karmen and BRUJA, who went onto represent Romania with "Belladonna". This marked the first time the Romanian entry was sung in multiple languages and the first time was used in the lyrics.

Romania was drawn to perform in the second half of the first semi-final, and it was later revealed that the country would perform in the 16th position, following Austria and preceding Greece. Romania qualified for the final for the second time in a row, placing 7th with 146 points (6th with the juries, 11th with the televoting), and was drawn to perform in the second half of the grand final. It was then revealed that Romania would perform in the twenty-fourth position, following Austria and preceding Lebanon. Romania finished in 18th place, scoring 89 points (15th with the juries, 22nd with the televoting).

The Song 4
For the third time in a row, E altceva returned as the Romanian national selection for the fourth edition of The Song. Once again, 10 acts were chosen to take part in a single final. The final was won by Stefania, who went onto represent Romania with "Ka wela". This also marked the first time the language was heard at the contest.

Selection process
E altceva, a song contest which has been taking place regularly in Romania has been used to select its entry for the contest. The first edition was held during the second edition of The Song, with the winner chosen by combining televoting with the votes of a jury panel. Since then, the voting procedure has changed and the televoting votes separately from the jury panel. The selection of the winner either occurred during one show, or through a varying amount of semi-finals.

Draw history
Romania has so far competed in a total of five shows: Three semi-finals and two finals. The country has been allocated to perform in the second half for the majority of the contests (one time in the first half, four times in the second half). As of the third edition, Romania has never participated in the second semi-final.

Voting history
Romania's voting statistics as of the third edition. The tables list the points given or received by Romania in the semi-finals, the finals and a total of both. Ireland and the United Kingdom are currently the countries that has given the most points to Romania. The country that has received the most points from Romania is Poland.

Jury members
A five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals is made up for every participating country for the semi-finals and final of The Song, ranking all entries except for their own country's contribution. The juries' votes constitute 50% of the overall result alongside televoting.

Commentators and spokespersons
Since the first edition there have been different commentators and spokespersons for Romania. However, all the events were broadcasted by TVR, on both radio and television.

The spokespersons have been different in each edition. Eda Marcus was the first ever Romanian spokesperson.

Awards
As of the first edition, Romanian entries have won two awards, and been nominated for seven in total. The table lists all the awards and nominations received by Romanian entries.

The Song Second Chance
The contest takes place during the contest, usually during the first semi-final of the respective edition. It is not an televised event, and only run through YouTube. Romania debuted in the second edition.