Lied van Liedjes 34

This was the thirty-third Lied van Liedjes to be held. Semi-Finals would occur on the Tuesday 20th May and Thursday 22nd May 2003. The grand final happening on Saturday 24th May 2003. Lucia Danielsen returned as executive producer, alongside the director Eila Kekkonen. Fraser Stuart would interestly return as co-ordinator alongside Estonian-born Rait Kaljurand. Tallinn was quickly chosen as the suitable host city. =Contest= The contest would be formatted with a two semi-final system where 10 countries would qualify for the final in each semi-final. Furthermore, the top five from the previous edition would automatically qualify for the final to create three shows of 19, 19, and 25 countries. There were no golden duels or second chance this edition.

A total of 43 countries took part, meaning that 8 countries withdrew - with five automatically qualifying, 38 countries would go through the semi-finals. The ban on 's participation was lifted but they refused to return. As such, neither the or  returned to the contest. and both announced their withdrawals in late April citing exceeding travel costs. Despite this, did confirm their continued participation. For suspicious circumstances surrounding the broadcaster of, they were forced to withdraw. Around the same time, the withdrawal of was announced citing a humanitarian crisis. It had seemed that these 47 countries would participate until Lied van Liedjes announced an increase to the participation fee last minute to account for new finances needed in running the contest. This prompted the withdrawal of, , and surprisingly,.

No new countries debuted or

This edition featured eight returning countries, many of which had withdrew the edition prior. All three Caucasus countries in, and  returned after all missing a single edition. This was allegedly due to financial and independent costs. originally had no plan to return but miraculously acquired funds to join the contest. Liedjes also pledged to investigate funding here. acquired adequate funding from ; while received adequate funding from. decided to participate decide previously not wanting to. This venture was paid entirely by the singer who was rich. also returned after taking an edition break.

The automatic qualifiers are:, , , and. The increase in number of qualifiers and capacity of the final from edition 30 was not kept despite a close amount of participants. Had the Faroe Islands and Greenland not boycotted the event due to the handling of Denmark's investigation, the event would've equalled edition 30's record amount of countries. =Semi Finals=

Semi Final 1
and would vote in this Semi Final. It took place on Tuesday 20th May 2003.

Semi Final 2
,, and would vote in this Semi-Final. It took place on Thursday 22nd May 2003. =Finals=

Odds
=Other Countries=

Non-participation due to financial problems

 * - Broadcaster cited financial difficulties and lack of desire to take part in any upcoming contests.
 * - Cited financial issues and lack of other Arab nations in the contest.
 * - Cited financial issues and lack of other Arab nations in the contest.
 * - Cited financial issues.
 * - Cited financial issues.
 * - Cited financial issues and lack of other Arab nations in the contest.
 * - Cited financial issues.
 * - Cited financial issues and lack of other Arab nations in the contest.
 * - Cited financial issues and political problems with the broadcaster.
 * - Cited financial issues and lack of other Arab nations in the contest.
 * - Cited financial issues and lack of other Arab nations in the contest.
 * - Cited financial issues and long travel times. Expressed interest if their participation fee were paid by a foreign nation.

Non-participation due to protest

 * - New delegation leadership refused to apply in protest.
 * - New delegation leadership refused to apply in protest.

Non-participation due to lack of interest/bad results

 * - Originally announced they would return in the 32nd edition, but later withdrew. They expressed interest in returning in the following edition.

Non-participation due to unknown/other reasons

 * - Suspended by the Liedjes company for restricting Faroe Islands and Greenland participation in the contest. This suspension would last one edition.
 * - Mentioned a possible return to the contest in the future, but was uninterested as of now.
 * - Northern Ireland made a pact with the Irish broadcaster to send a join entry for this edition.

Yet to debut

 * - No broadcaster interested to apply for the long process to debut in the contest alongside financial issues.
 * - Insufficient financial issues, and political issues surrounding the broadcaster.
 * - Citing long travel times and lack of interest in the population but have expressed interest in debuting in the future.
 * - Citing long travel times and lack of interest in the population but have expressed interest in debuting in the future.
 * - Lack of interest in the population or the broadcaster, but have expressed interest previously and have dedicated fanbases