Key events
20h ago12.24EDT
'I will tell the truth about the EU’s disaster course', far-right politician says
The far-right Identity and Democracy’s representative, Anders Vistisen, wrote on social media ahead of the debate:
“The entire EU system has tried to prevent me and the right wing from participating in the EU top candidate debate tonight. They want to exclude right wing votes! They didn’t succeed - so tonight I will tell the truth about the EU’s disaster course directly to Ursula and the rest of the EU!”
20h ago12.24EDT
Is von der Leyen committed to Green Deal, candidate asks ahead of debate
Bas Eickhout, the lead candidate for the European Greens, said ahead of this evening’s debate that “we all want to know whether Ursula Von der Leyen is committed to continuing and enforcing the Green Deal.”
“We need a true deal to ensure European competitiveness vis-à-vis China and the US. We need climate action and to make us independent from fossil fuels coming from autocrats. Or is Von der Leyen prepared to keep Europe dependent on Russian gas?” he added.
Eickhout also highlighted concerns about alleged links between some far-right politicians and Russia and China.
“Will the EPP and ALDE defend democracy in the European Union? Or will they collaborate with the far right, as they are increasingly doing at national level? Will Von der Leyen draw a clear red line so that her European People’s Party EPP stops collaborating with the far-right ECR and ID groups?” he said.
20h ago12.23EDT
Walter Baier, the president of the Party of the European Left, said he is “looking forward to an exciting debate.”
20h ago12.23EDT
Anaïs Berthier, head of the Brussels office at NGO ClientEarth, posed a question ahead of the debate for the candidates:
“As we are facing a climate, nature and pollution crisis, what will they prioritise to protect us and the planet?”
20h ago12.23EDT
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann’s team in Maastricht today
20h ago12.23EDT
The European Free Alliance is really excited about the debate.
20h ago12.23EDT
Young people have arrived to watch tonight’s debate.
20h ago12.23EDT
The candidate representing the Greens in tonight’s debate, Bas Eickhout, arrived by bike.
20h ago12.21EDT
Who's debating?
This year’s debate in Maastricht, ahead of the June European parliament elections, is an unusual one. In theory, the debate is set to “feature Europe’s top candidates for Commission President, representing key party groups,” according to organisers.
But while there will be eight contenders on stage, eyes will be focused on just one: Ursula von der Leyen, the current European Commission president and lead candidate of the centre-right European People’s party.
Von der Leyen is widely considered the leading contender to be selected as Commission president (again). And while some other names have been floated, they will not be present in Maastricht, leaving von der Leyen as the only top-level political heavyweight to participate in the debate.
The other debate participants will be:
Nicolas Schmit for the Party of European Socialists
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party
Bas Eickhout for the European Green Party
Anders Vistisen for the Identity and Democracy Party
Walter Baier for the Party of the European Left
Maylis Roßberg for the European Free Alliance
Valeriu Ghilețchi for the European Christian Political Movement
20h ago12.21EDT
Welcome to the blog
Good evening and welcome to a special edition of the Europe blog, focused on the EU election debate in Maastricht.
Stay tuned and send your comments to lili.bayer@theguardian.com.