First debate for European election mainly aimed at reaching young people

The first debate for the European election (June 6 to 9) happened at the Theater aan het Vrijthof in Maastricht on Monday evening. The audience was mainly young people, and the politicians’ main goal was clearly to reach them. The main themes were climate change, security, and democracy, with sometimes widely different views from the intended party leaders of the parties participating in the elections, NOS reports.

Anders Visitsen, the candidate for the right-wing populist party Identity and Democracy, announced that he wants to fire “ten thousand bureaucrats” in Brussels. “And we’ll start with you,” he told European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In the Netherlands, the PVV is a member of Identity and Democracy. The party wants the EU to have as little influence as possible on its member states. According to the Danish politician Visitsen, the EU is not democratic.

Dutch politician Bas Eickhout delivered a strong pro-EU message for the European Green Party, which the Dutch GroenLinks is a member of. “Instead of lecturing everyone, you should clean up your own mess,” Eckhout told Visitsen, referring to scandals at several national parties affiliated with Identity and Democracy, to loud applause from the audience.

The German Ursula von der Leyen referenced her own children, saying that they motivated her to stay the course through the various crises of the past five years. She said that only a united Europe is strong, and young people can contribute to that with their votes. Von der Leyen is currently the European Commission president for the European People’s Party, which the Dutch CDA and ChristenUnie are members of.

Other candidates criticized Von der Leyen for what the Commission has achieved under her presidency. Eickhout attacked her for weakening the Green Deal and conceding to protesting farmers. “In 2019, Von der Leyen called it her ‘man-on-the-moon project.’ But imagine if JFK had suddenly said, ‘Maybe halfway to the moon is good enough,’” Eickhout said. He said that much more investment is needed to limit climate change as much as possible.

The Austrian Walter Baier of the Party of the European Left, to which the Dutch SP and PvdD belong, argued for rich people to pay more taxes. He pointed out that 1 percent of the population is responsible for half of the emissions and referred to large climate demonstrations by young people.

Before the debate started, a pro-Palestine activist accused Von der Leyen of being a war criminal. She kind of addressed that in the debate, stressing that the number of civilian casualties in Gaza is unacceptable.

As of 4:00 p.m. on April 29, local time, Israeli attacks have killed at least 34,448 people in Gaza, including over 14,500 children. More than 77,643 people are injured and over 8,000 are missing, Al Jazeera reported based on figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

According to Von der Leyen, the EU “will take action” if Israel continues to threaten Rafah, the only city in the Gaza Strip still standing where most of the Palestinian population is sheltering. She did not clarify what action the EU would take and how far Israel would have to go before this happens.

There was loud applause from the audience when Baier asked why Brussels has not considered sanctions against Israel.

At the end of the debate, the audience voted on which politicians would be the best President of the European Commission. Eickhout emerged as the winner. The actual elections will happen next month.