The Eurovision debate between the lead candidates for the Commission presidency takes place on Thursday 23 May from 15.00-16.45 in Parliament’s plenary chamber in Brussels. The debate is organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in collaboration with the European political parties and the European Parliament. Introductory remarks and draw of the candidate order list, in the presence of Liz CORBIN, EBU Director of News and Jesus CARMONA, EP Director for Media. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

Brussels

debate

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

CARMONA NUNEZ, Jesus (ES)

2024 European elections (T)

Eurovision debate 2024 - Draw: Introductory remarks and draw of the candidate order list, in the presence of Liz CORBIN, EBU Director of News and Jesus CARMONA, EP Director for Media

SOUNDBITE (English), Jes&uacute;s CARMONA, EP Director for Media, Good afternoon and welcome to the European Parliament. A special welcome to the representatives of European political parties who have joined us today. The Eurovision debate between lead candidates to the Presidency of the European Commission takes place exactly one week from now. It will be on Thursday, 23rd of May, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the European Parliament hemicycle.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jesús CARMONA, EP Director for Media, And it's a milestone event in the run up to the European elections of 6th to 9th of June. The European Parliament has always tried to ensure that by voting in the European elections, citizens not only elect the Parliament itself, but also have a say over who will be lead the European Commission. In order to europeanised the elections and to boost the democratic legitimacy of the European Union, the decision making, Parliament call on European political parties to nominate candidates for the Presidency of the European Commission ahead of the elections.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jesús CARMONA, EP Director for Media, The aim was to allow citizens to directly influence through their vote the choice of the Head of the European executive. This procedure is known as the Spitzenkandidaten, lead candidates in German, process. In the run up to the 2024 elections, Parliament confirm the importance of the lead candidate mechanism. A resolution approved in the end of 2023 insisted on the need to establish a clear link between the choice of voters and the position of the Commission President. The European Broadcasting Union here, represented by the Director of News, Liz Corbin, prepared the rules for the event within the Spitzenkandidaten framework and with full editorial independence, drawing from experience from previous debates.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jesús CARMONA, EP Director for Media, On 15th April, European political parties received by EBU a letter to appoint a lead candidate, Walter  Baier, from the European Left, Sandro Gozi, Renew Europe Now, Ursula von der Leyen, European People's Party, Terry Reintke, European Greens and Nicholas Schmit, Party of European Socialists, responded. The Identity and Democracy and European Conservatives and Reformists parties were also invited to nominate a candidate, but none of them has officially declared to appoint a lead candidate to the Presidency of the European Commission.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jesús CARMONA, EP Director for Media, 'Today's draw will determine the position of candidates on this stage. The first speaker on each topic and the order of the so-called spotlight interviews by the moderators of the debate. Without further do, I'll give the floor to list to provide all the necessary information. Liz, the floor is yours.

SOUNDBITE (English), Liz CORBIN, EBU Director of News, Thank you very much, Jesús. On behalf of the European Broadcasting Union, we are delighted to be back here at the European Parliament producing our third edition of the Eurovision debate. Taking the stage in the hemicycle of the Parliament here in Brussels next Thursday, along with the candidates will be our hosts Martin Řezníček from Czech Television and Annelies Beck from Belgium's VRT. Both public service broadcasters and members of the EBU.

SOUNDBITE (English), Liz CORBIN, EBU Director of News, If you are veterans of the Eurovision debates of 2014 and 2019, perhaps as a viewer, or as a journalist, or in some way participating, you will certainly recognise the 2024 debate. But we are pleased in 2024 to be bringing some exciting new elements. For the first time we will have live audiences in all 27 EU countries. That's thanks to a clever collaboration between the European Parliament Liaison Offices in each country and many of the EP's Members.

SOUNDBITE (English), Liz CORBIN, EBU Director of News, We will be bringing them live into the program. And in seven of the countries, members of the public will be able to ask their questions directly to the candidates here in Brussels, and the audience will have a panel of first time voters asking their questions in person, focused around six topics. And I will be revealing those topics a little later on. Also, for the first time, there will be a spotlight section, an opportunity for the candidates to make their pitch directly to viewers at home, and then be quizzed by one of our two moderators in a direct one on one interview.

SOUNDBITE (English), Liz CORBIN, EBU Director of News, 'So, all of this means that we need a fair way to decide the order in which the candidates will appear in the debate. So today, we will be making three draws. The first, for the order that the candidates will stand on stage, from left to right as the audience looks at it. The second will be to decide who will get the first question in each topic segment, and then the final draw will reveal the order of those spotlight sections, the one-on-one interviews.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jesús CARMONA, EP Director for Media, So we have three balls. The balls inside this balls contain the names of our participating candidates. Liz will pick the balls from the ball and open them to find the name of the next candidate in the draw, which will go up on the screens behind us here. So to the first draw, this is the order in which the candidates will stand on the stage.

SOUNDBITE (English), Liz CORBIN, EBU Director of News, Thank you very much. So, the candidate to stand on the far left of the stage will be Ursula von der Leyen (DE, EPP). The candidate to stand next to Ursula von der Leyen (DE, EPP), the next along the stage will be Nicola Schmit (LU, S&D). The candidate to have the middle position on the stage will be Terry Reintke (DE, Greens). Standing next to Terry Reintke (DE, Greens) will be Sandra Gozi (IT, Renew). And on the far right hand side of the screen of the stage, rather the far right hand side of the stage, will be, of course, Walter Baier (AT, Left).

SOUNDBITE (English), Jesús CARMONA, EP Director for Media, Thank you, Liz. Let's proceed now to the second draw. This is to decide who will get the first question in each topic segment, Liz.

SOUNDBITE (English), Liz CORBIN, EBU Director of News, Thank if you. you And remember, I said there were going to be six topics and we have five candidates. So, the first name that I will draw will be the candidate that will answer, both the first question and the sixth topics. So, the candidate to speak first in the first and sixth topics will be Nicolas Schmit (LU, S&D). Candidate to speak first, at the second topic will be Sandro Gozi (IT, Renew). The candidate to speak first to get the first question at the third topic will be Ursula von der Leyen (DE, EPP). The first question in the fourth topic will go to Walter Baier (AT, Left). And that means, of course, that the first speaker at the fifth topic will be Terry Reintke (DE, Greens).

SOUNDBITE (English), Jesús CARMONA, EP Director for Media, Thank you, Lisa. And now to the last drop, the order of the spotlight segments. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (English), Liz CORBIN, EBU Director of News, So the first spotlight segment will be with... Nicolas Schmit (LU, S&D). The second spotlight segment will be with... Sandro Gozi (IT, Renew). Third in the spotlight segments will be.... Terry Reintke (DE, Greens). And fourth in the spotlight segments will be... Ursula von der Leyen (DE, EPP). Which means, of course, that the final spotlight section goes to... Walter Baier (AT, Left).

SOUNDBITE (English), Jesús CARMONA, EP Director for Media, Thank you. And Liz, the final thing you are announcing today is the topics, which will be covered during the debate.

SOUNDBITE (English), Liz CORBIN, EBU Director of News, Yes. Thank you very much. So we have consulted very widely to arrive at these topics, particularly with our EP members who, of course, know intimately the topics, which are of the most interest in their country. We've also looked at the latest results of the Eurobarometer survey, and, of course, we're selecting what the next president of the European Commission, will, in fact, be able to influence. So here are the six topics that we will be covering: economy and jobs, defence and security, climate and environment, democracy and leadership, migration and borders, and innovation and technology.

SOUNDBITE (English), Liz CORBIN, EBU Director of News, So those are the six topics that we'll be discussing next Thursday. And we are now ready for next Thursday. We have concluded all of the draws, and it will be a moment just to take a quick look at the summary of the results of those draws.

SOUNDBITE (English), Liz CORBIN, EBU Director of News, So first, for the order that the candidates will stand on stage. We have on the left hand side of the stage Ursula von der Leyen (DE, EPP), then Nicolas Schmit (LU, S&D), and Terry Reintke (DE, Greens), to Sandro Gozi (IT, Renew), and then on the right hand side, Walter Baier (AT, Left). So the next draw was who will speak first. Who will get the first question in each topic segment?

SOUNDBITE (English), Liz CORBIN, EBU Director of News, And the results of that draw are that Nicolas Schmit (LU, S&D) will take the first question in the first and sixth topics. Sandro Gozi (IT, Renew) will take the first question in the second topic. Ursula von der Leyen (DE, EPP), the first question in the third topic. Walter Baier (AT, Left), the first question in the fourth topic, and then speaking first in the fifth topic will be Terry Reintke (DE, Greens).

SOUNDBITE (English), Liz CORBIN, EBU Director of News, 'And then to our final draw, which was the order of the spotlight segments. We have first, Nicolas Schmit (LU, S&D), will be up first with that one-on-one interview. Then, Sandro Gozi (IT, Renew). Then, Terry Reintke (DE, Greens), Ursula von der Leyen (DE, EPP) and finally Walter Baier (AT, Left).

SOUNDBITE (English), Jesús CARMONA, EP Director for Media, Okay. And this is it for our event. Once again, thank you all for your presence, and I hope to see you all in exactly one week's time. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (English), Liz CORBIN, EBU Director of News, Thank you.