With EU elections fast approaching, the four main candidates in the race to head the European Commission held a televised debate on Monday. It was the first of its kind and comes at a time of heightened anti-EU feeling from voters.
As Reuters reported, EU citizens do not directly elect the Commission - the debate by representatives of the four main groups in the European Parliament showed voters the main political stances on offer at elections to the assembly to be held on May 22-25.
None of the four candidates - representatives of the centre-left, centre-right, centrist and green groups in parliament - are household names outside their own countries and it was unclear how many people tuned in to rolling news channel Euronews to see the 90-minute debate. However, the replayed video, available to watch on Euronews' YouTube Channel, had only a few thousand views three days after the debate which is extremely low for a leadership debate. EurActiv, however, reports that in terms of reach, 70,000 'live sessions' started on the online livestream. Apart from people tuning in, the social media pick-up was significant, with a total of 45,000 tweets sent during the debate.
The first televised presidential debate focused on three areas: the European economy, Euroscepticism and foreign policy.
The politicians displayed clear policy differences in a debate focused on the economy of a continent still recovering from a crisis that at one point looked like a threat to the euro currency:
"I am campaigning for a Europe that creates jobs and growth without spending money we don't have," said Jean-Claude Juncker, who chaired the eurozone's finance ministers' meetings during the crisis, a role that opened him up for criticism at the time but has allowed him to tout his crisis-fighting credentials now that the worst is over.
"I don't have a project of austerity. I am in favour of sound public finances because there is no growth without sound public finances," said Juncker, who represents the currently leading centre-right EPP.
For the Social Democrats, European Parliament President Martin Schulz, a staunch critic of austerity policies, argued that more money should be spent helping young people find jobs - a message that resonated with the audience.
In the centre, Guy Verhofstadt, a former prime minister of Belgium represented the Liberals, and Ska Keller, the only woman, was there for the Greens. Alexis Tsipras, for the Party of the European Left, chose not to take part.
The successor to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will be appointed by EU leaders and confirmed by the European Parliament.
Whichever party comes top in the elections will be best placed to have its candidate become European Commission chief - an influential role that is meant to be above politics. Juncker and Schulz are well placed, but neither is sure to get the job.
While the four groups represented in the debate are likely to win around 70 per cent of the seats in May's elections, anti-EU and protest parties on the left and the right are expected to make gains among voters disillusioned with the EU or who want to punish their national governments.
According to a EuropeDecides poll, the clear winner of the debate was Guy Verhofstadt.
A recent poll by the Cicero Group shows the EPP and S&D neck and neck:
Source: http://www.eutwentyfourteen.com/
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