LIVE: The final face-off between EU’s political families ahead of June’s elections

4 months ago 15

Est. 2min

23-05-2024 (updated: 23-05-2024 )

Content-Type:

News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Eurovision debate draw 2024 (23/05/2024)

Follow the final debate between the European Union’s political families in this live blog by the Euractiv newsroom.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which is organising the debate taking place on 23 May between 15:00 and 16:45, has confirmed the participation of Walter Baier (European Left), Sandro Gozi (Renew Europe Now), Ursula von der Leyen (European People’s Party), Terry Reintke (European Greens) and Nicolas Schmit (Party of European Socialists).

The debate has come under fire in recent weeks due to the outcry of the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) party and regionalist party European Free Alliance over their exclusion from participating. The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group has not participated in any of the previous debates and will not be present in this one either.

The topics on the table are the economy and Jobs, defence and security, climate and environment, democracy and leadership, migration and borders, and innovation and technology.

The debate, moderated by Martin Řezníček (Czech TV) and Annelies Beck (VRT, Belgium), will be followed by ‘spotlight’ interviews with the candidates, one by one, as follows: Nicolas Schmit, Sandro Gozi, Terry Reintke, Ursula von der Leyen, Walter Baier.