The first Eurovision Debate took place on 15 May 2014 and was the first-ever live televised format to bring democratic political debate to a pan-European level.[1][2] Italian journalist and Director of the Rai News24Monica Maggioni [it]moderated the debate with RTÉ's Conor McNally as its social media co-presenter.[3] The Eurovision Debate is produced by the EBU under the guidance and the supervision of senior editors from European Public Service Media (the "Editorial Board") and was directed by Rob Hopkin.[4]
In the lead up to the EU Elections in June 2024, the Eurovision Debate was held at the European Parliament building in Brussels on 23 May 2024. The debate commenced at 15:00 CET, with Martin Řezníček [cs] (Czech TV, Czechia) and Annelies Beck [nl] (VRT, Belgium) moderating the debate between the five candidates. The topics chosen for the debate were Economy and Jobs, Defence and Security, Climate and Environment, Democracy and Leadership, Migration and Borders, and Innovation and Technology. In a first, the Eurovision Debate introduced ‘spotlight’ segments where each candidate faced 1:1 questioning by the moderators. The position of candidates on set and the speaking orders for each topic and spotlight interviews were decided through an allocation draw on 16 May. In the 2024 edition of the debate, the EBU also provided viewers an opportunity to submit questions to the candidates using the hashtag #EurovisionDebate. Questions were also asked by the audience in the plenary chamber and by viewers watching from events organised by the Parliament’s Liaison Offices in EU member states.
Format
The debate is presented by 2 television anchor personalities from public service media organisations who ask the candidates on stage a series of questions on pre-determined themes, although the questions themselves are not known in advance. The debate obeys strict rules of transparency and neutrality and all candidates are allocated the same speaking time. Interpretation is provided in all official languages of the EU, and the International Sign Language.
The order in which the candidates take the floor is decided by a draw which happens shortly before the debate itself. The Eurovision Debate also uses social media to spark debate among citizens throughout Europe around issues that are topical for the European Parliament elections. In 2019, a third anchor person monitored the exchanges online and reported to the journalists on stage so that the social media dimension was taken into account during the discussions. This element was dropped for the 2024 debate given the direct involvement of voters in the audience and from the live events around the EU.
In 2024 a draw was held on May 16th to determine the order of the candidates on stage, the order that the candidates would answer the question in each topic segment and the order in which the candidates would join the Spotlight interview section.[7]
The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and Identity and Democracy (ID) did not nominate lead candidates for the Presidency of the European Commission and were therefore not eligible to take part in the 2024 Eurovision Debate.[7]
Broadcast
The debate is broadcast in more than 27 countries on TV and Radio and can be viewed online on the EBU’s website.[10] For the 2019 edition, the following channels and broadcasters aired the debate:[11]
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