On 7 May, the EBU announced the candidates and moderators for the Eurovision Debate. The lead candidates for the Presidency of the European Commission that will participate in the debate are (in alphabetical order):

• Walter Baier, European Left
• Sandro Gozi, Renew Europe Now
• Ursula von der Leyen, European People’s Party
• Terry Reintke, European Greens
• Nicolas Schmit, Party of European Socialists

Public service media journalists Annelies Beck, from VRT in Belgium, and Martin Řezníček, from Czech TV in Czechia will moderate the debate.

Annelies Beck, VRT, said: “Our role will be to make sure that the candidates get a fair chance to express their party’s views on key issues for voters. We will probe beyond the campaign promises and bring you the insights and answers that you need before going to the polls.”

Martin Řezníček Czech TV said: “These European elections come at a crucial time of global history. There is no greater privilege than having the opportunity to co-moderate the main pan-European debate and asking questions on public’s behalf. People will have a say in this – it is by the Europeans, for the Europeans.”

The debate will take place in English, with interpretation into all 24 official EU languages as well as International Sign Language. Across the EU, public service media are partnering with European Parliament Liaison Offices for special events to watch the debate live.

There will be six key topics of interest to voters where candidates will debate with each other following questions from the audience in Brussels, from voters joining the debate live from the special events in a range of EU capitals, from questions gathered from social media, and from the moderators themselves.

In addition to the topic segments, candidates will also face 1:1 questioning by the moderators in “Spotlight” segments, which are new for the Eurovision Debate 2024.

Next steps

An allocation draw will be organised on 16 May in the European Parliament in Brussels to determine:

• The position of the candidates on the set;
• The order in which the candidates will answer the first question on a topic;
•  The order of the Spotlight segments.

The topics for the debate and explanation of the rules will also be announced on 16 May. A more detailed media advisory for this will be published by the European Parliament press service on Monday 13 May.

Watch live on 23 May here