On 15 May 2019, the candidates for the presidency of the European Commission take part in a live Eurovision debate at the Parliament in Brussels. Closing statements by Frans TIMMERMANS, lead candidate of the Party of European Socialists (PES), Manfred WEBER, lead candidate of the European People’s Party (EPP), Ska KELLER, lead candidate of the European Greens (Greens), Nico CUÉ, lead candidate of the European Left (EL), Margrethe VESTAGER, lead candidate of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) as member of Team Europe, and Jan ZAHRADIL, lead candidate of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE).  The following transcription is the result of an automatic process. Check Against delivery.

Brussels

WEBER, Manfred (EPP, DE)

TIMMERMANS, Frans (NL, EC)

KELLER, Ska (Greens/EFA, DE)

VESTAGER, Margrethe (DK, CE)

ZAHRADIL, Jan (ECR, CZ)

Eurovision debate between candidates for the Presidency of the European Commission (T)

2019 European elections (T)

CUÉ, Nico (BE)

Presidency of the European Commission / Eurovision Debate - Closing statements by the lead candidates: Frans TIMMERMANS, Manfred WEBER, Ska KELLER, Nico CUÉ, Margrethe VESTAGER and Jan ZAHRADIL

SOUNDBITE (English), host, Now one final opportunity to ask for your supports. So you are six on stage, 40 seconds closing statements, starting with Frans Timmermans.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, PES lead candidate , You have heard us today. You've heard all the differences. I hope it helps you make up your mind what you vote next week. But there's one thing I want to ask you: whatever you choose, never become indifferent. Choose, let your voice be heard. If you don't vote, somebody else will take your voice. It's like giving your money to somebody else to decide about your future. Vote in the European elections. Let your heart speak. Vote for the person or the party you believe will fix Europe's problems best, but vote, never let yourself become indifferent.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER, EPP lead candidate, If I would have the chance to ask my grandfather, the grandfather's generation what do you think about today's Europe? I think they would answer it the best Europe they ever saw. And for the 26 of May for these European elections it's first of all to defend it against the egoists, against the nationalists who are back in Europe. And I want to open a new chapter, I want to create optimism, I want to create future perspective for this European Union for this great idea of a united Europe. And I say it again. I want to make it in a democratic way. You have the say, you decide about the composition of this chamber of the European Parliament and you give her the advice what are the top subjects that we have to deal with in the next upcoming five years of democratic Europe and a strong Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Margrethe VESTAGER, ALDE lead candidate as member of Team Europe, Two things. First, it's important to show that we do change. And the most visible way to do it is to have a gender balanced Commission: the same number of men as the number of women. That reflects our societies. And second, the challenges we've been discussing today. They're difficult. We need each other to do it. But it takes courage to overcome ourselves and our differences, to find common solutions. The power to change comes from you. Voting is power. Go vote in this election and inspire people around you to go vote. Otherwise, other people will use it. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jan ZAHRADIL, ACRE lead candidate, I would say that probably no one here at this stage is happy with the state of play of the European Union. But each of us has a different recipe on what to do with that. My country joined the European Union 15 years ago. I'm coming from rather different part of Europe. Maybe with a different life experience and maybe with different paradigm of European integration. I have a feeling that sometimes this is not widely understood in other parts of Europe, that we are more sensitive to questions like national sovereignty or national identity. So in order to work together, to live together, to cooperate together, we have to find the way how to sort it out and we have to find the right balance between the European level and national level as I said at the beginning.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ska KELLER, Greens lead candidate, All over Europe young people are taking to the streets because they fear for their future. And they turned that fear and the anger at the politicians not doing anything. They turned that fear and that anger into action. And we need to do the same. We need to act, because there is hope for a better future. And yes it can be done but it does need change and it does need courage and it does need a strong force in the European Parliament that will fight for climate protection, for social Europe, and for democracy not just in words but also in action. And that is our offer as Greens to all Europeans.

SOUNDBITE (French), Nico CU&#201;, EL lead candidate, Well we've just seen European leaders, they talk a lot but they don't get to the heart of the problems. They're not dealing with climate change, global warming, precariousness. They're not dealing with tax evasion. We want a Europe that actually takes these problems and deals with them by the horns. In Spain we want people to vote for Europe, for feminism. In Italy people are voting. We don't want them to vote for fascism. We want all European citizens to be able to vote for social states that actually give them a decent life, and we want Europe to completely change course. We're asking then for a vote for the European Left which is the only party that can really change direction.

SOUNDBITE (English), host, That brings us to the end of our debate. I hope you spotted somebody whom you'd think would make a good president of the next European Commission. But anyhow please join us all in showing your appreciation for all the six candidates.