France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000

Eurovision 2000: la sélection was the national final organised by France 3 to select France's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2000. The competition took place on 15 February 2000 at the L'Olympia in Paris and hosted by Julien Lepers and Karen Cheryl. The show was broadcast on France 3.

France 3 requested proposals from record companies in October 1999. A three-member selection committee reviewed the received proposals, shortlisted twenty entries after an audition round and selected fourteen to compete in the national final. The selection committee consisted of Nathalie André (producer), Catherine Régnier (M6 music programmer) and Fabrice Ferment (Head of Delegation for France at the Eurovision Song Contest). The competing artists and songs were announced on 6 January 2000.[1]

The final took place on 15 February 2000. Fourteen entries competed and the winner, "On aura le ciel" performed by Sofia Mestari, was selected by the combination of public televoting (50%) and a jury panel (50%). The jury panel included Marie Myriam and Patrick Fiori who represented France in the 1977 and 1993 Contests respectively.[2]

A degree of controversy arose when it became known that "On aura le ciel" had been placed first by the jury but "Espoir" performed by Jessica Ferley had won the public vote, receiving 27,000 votes out of the 43,000 registered.[1] The explanation of France 3 that "On aura le ciel" came second in the televote while "Espoir" was ranked only fourth by the jury prompted complaints that in the event of the televote and jury vote coming up with different winners, the televote should have taken precedence, otherwise there was a degree of dishonesty in asking the public to pay to vote, only for their choice to be overruled by a small group of jurors (A similar controversy would later engulf the 2005 Swedish selection).[3]