The Eurovision debate among the leading candidates for the presidency of the European Commission took place on Thursday afternoon at the European Parliament,

Walter Baier (Austria, European Left), Sandro Gozi (Italy, Renew Europe Now), Ursula von der Leyen (Germany, European People’s Party), Terry Reintke (Germany, European Greens) and Nicolas Schmit (Luxembourg, Party of European Socialists) took part in the telefight organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in collaboration with European political parties and the European Parliament.

The debate focused on the economy and jobs, defense and security, climate and environment, democracy and leadership, immigration and border policy, and innovation and technology.

Questions were submitted by the audience in the plenary chamber, by viewers attending the on-site events of the Parliament’s Offices in the EU Member States, by social media users, and by the two moderators of the debate. Candidates were also asked to answer personalized questions in ‘in the spotlight’ press interviews.

Ursula Von der Leyen: To become an air defense shield as requested by Mitsotakis

On the issue of European defense and the question of whether aid to Ukraine should continue or the security of member states should be emphasized, raised by a young participant, Nicola Schmidt said that both should be done.

Ursula von der Leyen said:

“We need both. The air defense shield for all of Europe, as proposed by Mr. Mitsotakis, is a project that we all agree on in Europe, but we must stand by Ukraine, which is fighting for our own values. Let’s support her and then strengthen our own defense.”

Sandro Gozzi, an Italian politician representing Renew Europe Now, emphasized that “Putin will not stop in Ukraine. We are being followed by the USA and China” and he emphasized that “for every defense euro another one for education”.

Gozi also challenged Ursula von der Leyen who responded: This is no time to ask for unfunded projects. Let’s work together.”

“I don’t understand Ursula der Leyen opening up to Georgia Meloni or Spain’s far-right VOX,” insisted Sandro Gozi.

The German MEP representing the European Greens, Teri Reidke, called for everyone to stand together against Putin’s threat and proposed a Defense Spending Fund.

Europe spends more than Ukraine on defense, said Austrian politician representing the Party of the European Left Walter Bayer. “I am impressed that we are talking about security and peace while no one mentioned the Middle East. When will the EU pressure Israel to stop the genocide, Walter Baier added, and the answer of the president of the Commission and the candidate of the People’s Party was that Israel has the right to self-defense but based on International Law, while the EU remains firmly in favor of the solution of the two states.

Ursula von der Leyen exaggerated and emphasized that 3.7 million immigrants entered the labor market legally out of 1 million asylum applications. We decide who will come, not the traffickers, We must be clear, those who have the right to stay will stay, the others will return.

On the contrary, Nicolas Schmitt emphasized that he supports the Migration Pact but it needs improvement as dictators like in Tunisia push migrants into the desert. My grandmother died in Auschwitz because the so-called Western democracies did not open their doors to refugees,” he added.

Italian and French Socialists voted against the Migration Pact, pointed out Sandro Gozzi, who represents Renew Europe Now and added: When they are in danger we save them. This is what we must do as Europeans and I know better than anyone that the division of Europeans has made the Mediterranean a graveyard, the Italian candidate stressed.

30 ” answers on unemployment and poverty

The first of the six topics was the economy and work and specifically the candidates were asked what they will do about unemployment and poverty, while the answer should not exceed 30 seconds.

Nicolas Schmitt, a politician from Luxembourg who serves as European Commissioner and is the leading candidate of the Party of European Socialists, stressed the importance of specialization to boost the labor market.

The German MEP representing the European Greens, Teri Reidke, focused on the green economy to create “green jobs” and warned that the biggest mistake is to go back to austerity.

The first question was from Paris and related to the consequences of EU enlargement.

Sandro Gozzi, an Italian politician representing Renew Europe Now responded with reference to Ukraine and stressed that enlargement is impossible without reforms because “the citizens cannot pay the price”.

Walter Bayer, the Austrian politician representing the Party of the European Left answered “yes to enlargement but with respect for workers and Democracy”. Greater intervention by the EU in addressing poverty means a ceiling on rents and a ban on evictions,” he said characteristically in his first statement.

The Social Democrats want Europe close to the citizens to respond to the world’s concerns,” stressed Nicolas Schmitt.

Climate and environment

Ursula von der Leyen was the first to answer the question of whether climate policy goals can be implemented without burdening economic development. Nicola Schmidt called for social dialogue with partners to show that everyone can benefit.

Asked by a 21-year-old from Madrid about the next steps in the green transition, Greens candidate Terri Rydke stressed that a green industrial deal and CAP reform are urgently needed. “We need sustainability and sustainability for both environment and agriculture and income. And redistribution of subsidies”, said the German MEP.

Democracy and leadership

We should vote directly for the president of the Commission from 2029, Sandro Gozzi, representing Renew Europe Now, suggested in this section.

We must repel and not adopt the agenda of the extreme right, emphasized Walter Bayer from the Party of the European Left.

The president of the Commission answered a question from a Cypriot soldier and regarding the post-election cooperation she said:

“It is important to have clear principles, with whom we want to cooperate in the new European Parliament. They must be pro-Europe, they must be pro-Ukraine and anti-Putin, and they must respect the rule of law. There are pro-Putin European parties that want to destroy our Europe and we will not allow it,” he stressed.

The German candidate of the Greens, Terri Reidke, was the first to respond, saying “Good evening” in Greek to the Cypriot and saying: “We must repel and not adopt the agenda of the extreme right.”

Discussion of artificial intelligence

Ursula von der Leyen cited Tik Tok Light as an example of how the EU can set rules to protect personal data.

The candidate of the European Left, Walter Baier, emphasized that public control is also required as “the giants of the internet make huge profits from the collection of personal data.

Sandro Goji, who represents Renew Europe Now, said he was particularly concerned about the mental health of children as a father and asked for transparency controls for influencers as well.

Greens candidate Teri Rydke said in favor of the most unsanitary legislation on the platforms, saying: I have a female partner, we are lesbians, I want to reassure you that Europe will remain a home of values.

The candidate of the Socialists, Nicolas Schmidt, emphasized that the world is changing because of algorithms and I agree with what was said about fake news, deep fake, but even in the age of artificial intelligence, the focus must remain on the human being.

Public media journalists Annelies Beck, from Belgium’s VRT and Martin Řezníček, from Czech TV will moderate the discussion.

The far-right party Identity and Democracy (ID), as well as the European Conservatives and Reformists, will not be represented in the debate. Also, the European Free Alliance, although it has a lead candidate, has been rejected because it belongs to the Green group in the European Parliament, with their representatives saying there is a political motive behind it.

The first telefight at the end of April took place in Maastricht. The second, co-organized by Bruegel and the Financial Times focused on financial issues and took place in Brussels earlier this week.