Absent far right dominates conversation in last debate before EU elections

That's a wrap! The lead candidates have made their final pitch to EU voters, now the decision is in their hands.

The vote will take place across the EU's member states between June 6-9.

Keep your eyes out for Euronews' wrap of the debate later today on our channels.

Von der Leyen's EPP party is projected to win the most seats once more, which should see her helm the Commission for a second term. But leaders could decide not to give her the nod.

Among the many names making the rounds in Brussels to replace her are Mario Draghi, Christine Lagarde, and Roberta Metsola.

Euronews' Gerardo Fortuna ranked their chances:

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Anders Vistisen, from the far-right Danish People's Party, who represented the ID group in the previous two debates organised in the lead-up to the elections, has blasted this debate as a "gathering of the EU's elite" and "not democratic at all".

"They have chosen to exclude the undersigned and the representative of ECR, the other right-wing group, even though together we represent 20-25% of all EU citizens," he added.

"With our Digital Services Act, we have been able to say to TikTok, listen, we are going to investigate the way you damage the mental health of our young people, with TikTok Lite for example," von der Leyen said, referring to a recent probe opened by her executive into a pay-for-video views version of the Chinese app launched in Spain and France.

"And the moment the announcement of this investigation came, TikTok withdrew TikTok Lite from the market because they knew what would come. So we have leverage," von der Leyen claimed.

"I oppose the migration pact (...) because it is against human rights but also because it allows member states who are not ready to receive refugees to pay money (...) to get out of a common European, solidaristic solution," Baier said.

The pact, which got the final seal of approval earlier this month, includes a system of 'mandatory solidarity' that gives EU governments the option to relocate a certain number of asylum applicants, pay €20,000 for each one they reject, or finance operational support.

Far-left lawmakers rejected the policy overhaul, which follows years of negotiations and which at times seemed impossible to conclude, for fear it breached the fundamental rights of migrants.

"When I look at the situation in Tunisia, and I suppose that you know what's going on in Tunisia, what happens to the refugees who are pushed into the desert, who are really beaten up, some of them killed," Schmit tells von der Leyen.

"This is not Europe, these are not European values. This is an agreement with a very special, nasty dictatorship," Schmit added.

He referred to an investigation unveiled this week and led by investigative platform Lighthouse Reports, which shows how EU funds enable North African countries to push back Europe-bound migrants into the desert.

"If we make concessions on our values, Europe will be weakened," he said.

Schmit told Euronews earlier this month that the bloc's cash-for-migration management agreements with countries such as Tunisia, Mauritania, Egypt, and Lebanon need to be reopened.

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Responding to a question from Greece about proposed measures to better integrate migrants into European society, von der Leyen pitches her now familiar vision for the EU's future migration policies.

"We are the ones in Europe who decide who comes to the EU and under what circumstance and not the smugglers and traffickers. This is paramount," von der Leyen says.

"Those who are here irregularly and who are not seeking asylum have to go back home," she added.

Her EPP party has controversially floated introducing the outsourcing of asylum applications to third countries based on the controversial UK-devised ‘Rwanda model’.

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The debate has now turned to migration, a hot-button issue despite the recently adopted New Pact on Migration and Asylum.

The law was immediately decried as going too far by left-wing forces and not being tough enough by right-wing parties.

Parties vying for seats in the hemicycle therefore have more ideas to tackle growing numbers of irregular arrivals from an all-out naval blockade to greater protection for LGBTQ+ refugees.

Euronews' Jorge Liboreiro took a look at what each manifesto pledges to do on migration and asylum:

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"We have to do everything possible to protect civilian life in Gaza," von der Leyen assured when asked about her highly-criticised hesitancy to call for restraint in Israel's offensive in Gaza.

"Absolutely, I am calling for a ceasefire and the release of the 128 hostages that are still in the hands of Hamas," von der Leyen added.

Giorgia Meloni - Italy's prime minister who came to power in 2022 on a staunchly eurosceptic platform - is pro-EU, against Putin and pro-rule of law, and therefore qualifies as a potential partner for the centre-right EPP party in the future legislature, von der Leyen says.

But von der Leyen firmly denied she was looking to work with the ECR in its entirety, saying that she's instead seeking to work with certain national delegations within the parliament.

The ECR includes hardline parties including Poland's Law and Justice (PiS), the Sweden Democrats, Spain's Vox and the Finns Party.

Addressing voters at home, frontrunner von der Leyen said campaigning for a second mandate is "one of the best things that ever happened to me in my life."

"The centre must hold. I want to stand with all my experience and my determination for a strong Europe," she said.

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MEPs spent the past 10 months tweaking and upgrading their own rules of procedure – a process initiated by Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

The scope of the reform was to address longstanding problems, such as diminished relevance when set against the other EU institutions and visible absenteeism in the chamber during some topical debates.

Here’s a sneak peek of how parliamentary business will change during the next mandate:

How will the next European Parliament work differently?

New ‘super’ committees, more inquiry powers over Commissioners, and attempts to avoid apparently deserted meetings are novel features planned for the next Parl…

Responding to a question from Slovakia, which was last week rocked by an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico, about how pro-EU forces can face up to a rising wave of populism and nationalism, Gozi called for a Treaty reform to ensure the bloc stands by EU citizens whose governments violate the rule of law.

Reintke took the opportunity to criticise Renew's member party, the Dutch VVD, for its decision to enter a coalition government with Geert Wilders, pointing out that Wilders' far-right PVV saw its support in the polls peak further following the coalition deal.

"Expel VVD from your group," Reintke told Gozi. "I know that Renew is committed to the European project, so send a clear signal now and make reality and say it has consequences when member parties of our groups go into coalitions with the far right."

The Dutch government deal is the first time a party belonging to the European Parliament's most far-right faction, the Identity and Democracy (ID) group, forms a coalition government with mainstream parties across the EU.

Ursula von der Leyen also used her first ‘blue card’ to detail what farmers are asking the EU Executive in the ongoing strategic dialogue launched by the Commission chief herself in January.

“In the dialogue, the answers from farmers are very clear. They say: We want climate neutrality because we live off nature, but please we want to move from conditionality to incentives, from massive reporting to modern technologies like satellite and drones to control what is necessary,” she said.

The recent derogation of the EU’s farming subsidies programme aimed at cutting red tape and on-spot checks on farms raised concerns for dismantling the programme’s green architecture.

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If von der Leyen's centre-right EPP forms new ties with ultra-conservative forces, "the whole Green Deal is going to be turned around," the Greens' Terry Reintke says.

"That's going to be a disaster for the climate, that's going to be disaster for nature, for future generations but also for the economy," she said.

The Greens are however slipping in the polls in a sign their electoral pledges are not resonating with citizens in the same way as they did back in 2019.

A recent study by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) suggests this election will be driven by the worries of two 'tribes' of voters, the first mostly concerned about climate change and the other about immigration.

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Von der Leyen censured Sandro Gozi after he commended two commissioners belonging to his Renew Europe family - Belgium's Didier Reynders and Estonia's Kadri Simson - for driving Europe's efforts to transform into a circular economy.

"Sandro Gozi, if you want to be president of the European Commission, you shouldn't single out your own commissioners, you need to stand by your (entire) college," von der Leyen said.

European environmental legislation has become a divisive issue in recent months, with a serious of angry protests by farmers only the most visible sign of a backlash against the European Green Deal, the flagship policy agenda of the European Commission under president Ursula von der Leyen.

There are signs of a widening division not only between Greens and other parties, but also in the traditional centre ground, with the two largest groups in the European Parliament – the centre-right European People’s Party and the Socialists & Democrats – taking opposing positions on a number of key files, not least the Nature Restoration Law.

Euronews' Marta Pacheco and Robert Hodgson combed through the manifestoes to find out where each party stands:

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The Green Deal shaped Ursula von der Leyen's mandate in hopes of establishing the bloc as a pioneer in the fight against climate change.

With this mandate drawing to a close, what were the main green achievements and which laws were held back by MEPs?

We break it all down here:

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"We see that the farmers cannot live off what they're producing any more," Reintke said. "We need to change the way we distribute subsidies in Europe."

Speaking recently to Euronews, Reintke called for more subsidies to trickle down to smaller, local farmers.

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Pressed about the decision of one of his group's member parties, the Dutch liberal VVD, to enter into government with Geert Wilders' far-right PVV party in the Netherlands, Gozi first claimed that the deal was not yet done.

"The government is not made. There is no government, there is no prime minister."

"For me, it's a major mistake," Gozi then acknowledged. "In this parliament, we will say always no to an alliance with the far-right."

The president of his group, Valérie Hayer, said earlier this week that her group in the European Parliament will vote to expel the Dutch VVD party on June 10.

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It's undoubtedly one of the most sensitive political issues ahead of June's vote - von der Leyen's potential agreement with parts of the hard-right ECR group in the next parliament.

The ECR harbours the likes of Spain's Vox, France's Reconquête and Italy's Fratelli d'Italia. But von der Leyen has developed a close relationship with Giorgia Meloni, who has softened her Eurosceptic stance since sweeping to power in Italy in 2022.

"They are absolutely against Europe, they want to dismantle Europe from within," Gozi said.

Russia's full-scale aggression on Ukraine, now in its third year, has accelerated talks of a more sovereign European defence architecture but also exposed crucial gaps in the bloc's capacity to produce what it needs to defend itself.

Von der Leyen, the current Commission chief, has vowed to bolster the bloc's military but her ambitions face multiple legal, political and financial hurdles.

Euronews' Jack Schickler delved into the topic:

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"I am really amazed by the fact that we are standing here talking about peace and security, and no one even mentioned Gaza and Israel," Baier passionately says.

"When will the European Union put sanctions on the European Union to put a stop to the murdering in Gaza?" Baier asks.

Von der Leyen replies that the root of the conflict is Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel, when some 1,200 Israelis were killed and over 200 more kidnapped into Gaza.

She emphasised how the bloc has quadrupled humanitarian aid to Palestinians since the outbreak of the war and has continued to fund the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

Von der Leyen says there are two options when it comes to funding a future scale-up of Europe's defence industries: national contributions from the EU capitals, or raising new EU funding, known as own resources.

"I think it's now time to talk about own resources for the European level. You cannot give tasks to the European level without funding it," von der Leyen said.

"We have to improve our defence industry. We have to make sure that the fragmentation we have in the EU stops, that we have common European projects, for example an air defence shield for all of Europe," von der Leyen said.

The bloc has recently come under pressure from Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to provide Kyiv with more air defence systems - but countries are reluctant over fears of potential shortages within the bloc.

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The Greens' Terry Reintke has called on the bloc to reform voting rules in the Council to prevent a single member state from derailing foreign policy decisions, like Hungary's Orbán has been doing.

"We cannot only end by spending money together, we also finally have to end unanimity in the Council when it comes to defence and foreign policy, we cannot give people like Viktor Orbán a veto right on our security," Reintke said.

The bloc has recently been forced to find creative solutions to sidestep Orbán in the Council, while sanction packages against Russia over its war in Russia have been watered down to secure his necessary approval.

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"We need clarity and not ambiguity," Schmit said, assuring he would never join forces with the extreme right.

Schmit said that far-right forces are not democratic, and censured von der Leyen for refusing to rule out a future cooperation with the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).

All mainstream political parties, except von der Leyen's EPP, have signed a declaration vowing to not cooperate with far-right forces.

Improving competitiveness (better conditions for businesses), cutting bureaucracy, protecting jobs and supporting the green transition are just a few of the key pledges from the party groups ahead of the European Parliament elections taking place 6-9 June. 

Turning on the economic growth engine in the continent for the next five years appears to be a complicated task. The current output is little more than zero and the outlook for the next years appears to be stark, according to the IMF which states: "Europe's medium-term growth prospects have been declining for some time."

We sifted through the manifestoes to break it all down for you:

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Answering a question from a 24-year-old business student from Le Havre in France on how the enlargement process will impact Europe's economy, Renew's Sandro Gozi said that enlargement is a question of answering the call of history.

"But it's clear that it's impossible to enlarge without reform. It's clear that we have to respond yes to history, but our citizens cannot pay the price," he said.

Schmit, the first to contribute to the debate, says Europe needs to invest in people and their skills in order to tackle unemployment and pull people out of poverty. "Investing in people is key," he says.

Reintke says we need to counter the idea that climate action and economic success are mutually exclusive.

The Left's Walter Baier says that housing is at the heart of Europe's poverty issue and calls for concrete action to drive down rental prices, which are soaring in many parts of the bloc.

In the most recent Eurobarometer two of citizen's top three concerns were the fight against poverty and the creation of new jobs.

The five candidates have arrived on stage and are ready to go.

Stay tuned for highlights from the debate.

Von der Leyen was the only lead candidate who didn’t stop to speak to reporters as she arrived at the European Parliament in Brussels, choosing to walk on across the passerelle instead.

The current Commission president has faced criticism for her limited interaction with the media since she entered office in 2019.

The regionalist, separatist European Free Alliance (EFA) also say they have been intentionally shunned by the organisers of the debate.

One of their lead candidates, Catalan independentist Raül Romeva, a former MEP sentenced to a 12-year prison term in 2019 on charges of sedition, but pardoned by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in 2021, told Euronews: "Basically this weakens the credibility in terms of democracy in the European institutions. It’s a fact that there are a lot of voices that have been excluded from the debate."

"We understand this as a huge political mistake. And unfortunately despite the fact that we have been arguing about this and claiming our right to be present there, there has not been any chance to participate," Romeva added.

There will be no debater representing the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) or the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID).

Why? The EBU rules stipulate that only parties that have formally fielded a Spitzenkandidat - their pick to lead the European Commission - can enter the debate.

Both ECR and ID firmly reject the Spitzenkandidat process and maintain that EU governments should choose who leads the EU's powerful executive arm.

The ID group has slammed the decision, with ID's Anders Vistisen telling Euronews earlier this week that it amounts to "political censorship."

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Our team of reporters in the hemicycle has been catching up with some of the first-time voters in the audience.

Eighteen-year-old Yannis from Cyprus told them: "It's a great opportunity to be here, this makes every young citizen feel involved in the game."

Hola, from Poland, added: "I'm quite excited."

Von der Leyen has clearly left the door ajar to a possible cooperation agreement with parts of the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) party - to which Giorgia Meloni Fratelli d’Italia belongs - explaining in the Maastricht debate last month that it would depend on “how the composition of the Parliament is, and who is in what group.”

This debate comes as the group further to the right, Identity and Democracy (ID), falls into disarray after reportedly expelling the Alternative for Germany (AfD) delegation over Nazi comments made by their lead candidate, Maximilian Krah.

Arriving at the debate, the Socialist and Democrats’ Nicolas Schmit told reporters: “For us there is no coalition with the extreme right. Because they do not share our vision, our project of a strong Europe. What they want to do is dismantle Europe.”

“I do not see how you can go into some kind of coalition with these people,” Schmit added.

“The more she gets closer to Fratelli d’Italia, Meloni, ECR, the more she gets far from us. That is clear,” Renew Europe’s Sandro Gozi said.

“The far-right not only wants to destroy the European Union, but our democracy. That is why we will not build majorities together with them and will also try everything we can to have as weak a far-right presence as possible in the next European Parliament,” Terry Reintke said.

Reintke also took a stab at the liberal Renew Europe group for the decision of their Dutch member party - the VVD - to enter into a coalition government with the Geert Wilders’ far-right Party for Freedom in the Netherlands.

With less than 30 minutes before they go head to head, the five candidates taking part in the debate have arrived at the Parliament in Brussels.

The system of lead candidates, or Spitzenkandidaten, was first introduced in 2014 and aimed to make the appointment at the helm of the European Commission, the bloc's powerful executive arm, more transparent.

Under the system, each political party nominates a lead candidate that would clinch the top job should they get the most seats in the European Parliament.

It worked once but then the system crashed and burned. Can it be revived this time around?

Check out our explainer on the topic:

Spitzenkandidaten: Democratic fix or political charade?

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In order of appearance on stage (from left to right):

Sandro Gozi, Renew Europe Now

Sandro Gozi, an Italian politician elected to the European Parliament in France, is one of a trio of lead candidates fielded by the liberal Renew Europe group. He hails from the centrist, federalist European Democratic Party.

But the Renew group is on track to make big losses in June, and could even lose its position as the parliament’s third largest political force to far-right rivals. According to today’s update of Euronews’ super poll, both hard-right groups in the parliament could edge past Renew, leaving them in fifth place.

Nicolas Schmit, Party of European Socialists (PES)

Schmit, currently von der Leyen’s jobs and social rights commissioner, is the socialists’ pick to lead the next Commission.

He’s made social rights, the green agenda and the defence of democracy the core tenets of his campaign. Schmit has also blasted recent migration deals brokered by von der Leyen with repressive third countries, telling Euronews earlier this month that the agreements need to be revised.

Terry Reintke, European Greens

Reintke is fronting the Greens’ campaign along with Bas Eickhout. She has vowed to save the bloc's green agenda from a right-wing backlash, with an annual investment of €200 billion in clean technologies. 

But polls suggest the Greens are a long way from repeating their successes of the 2019 election, facing the possibility of losing some 15 seats.

Ursula von der Leyen, European People’s Party (EPP)

The European Commission President is currently the clear front-runner, as her centre-right party leads the polls. 

Von der Leyen has been hailed for overseeing the European Green Deal, the COVID-19 recovery plan and an overhaul of the bloc’s asylum and migration policy. But as the most right-wing debater in the stand-off, rival candidates are expected to censure her recent overtures to the far-right and efforts to row back on green policies.

Walter Baier, European Left

The European Left’s chairman is not a familiar face in Brussels circles. But Baier, who hails from Austria’s communist party, hopes to provide an alternative option for voters concerned about housing and the cost of living crisis.

Baier has slammed von der Leyen for what he calls her "double standards" on the two wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and for cosying up to hardline right-wing parties.

Our team in Brussels will bring you the best of the debate, where candidates are set to tackle six broad topics:

• Economy and Jobs 
• Defence and Security 
• Climate and Environment 
• Democracy and Leadership 
• Migration and Borders 
• Innovation and Technology 

For the first time, questions will be pitched not only by the moderators but also by the audience in the plenary chamber and viewers in the parliament's liaison offices across the EU.