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The Maastricht Debate 2019 took place on April 29 evening with the lead candidates of the European political parties for the role of European Commission President. The 90-minute event was broadcasted live across the European Union.

This year, the Maastricht Debate 2019 was jointly organized by three partners from Maastricht: Working on Europe – Maastricht University, the City of Maastricht and the Province of Limburg – as well as the European Youth Forum and the European Journalism Centre.

Similarly to the 2014 edition, the debate focused on the concerns of students and young people across Europe, many of whom will be voting for the first time in the 2019 European elections.

On this occasion, the organizers invited POLITICO, the leading European publication for EU influencers, to ensure an extensive reach to the widest possible audience.

The Candidates

The following Spitzenkandidaten confirmed their participation in the 2019 edition of The Maastricht Debate:

Bas Eickhout for the European Greens Party

for the European Greens Party Frans Timmermans for the Party of European Socialists

for the Party of European Socialists Violeta Tomić for the Party of the European Left

for the Party of the European Left Guy Verhofstadt for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Jan Zahradil for the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe

The moderators for the debate were:

Ryan Heath , political editor at POLITICO

, political editor at POLITICO Rianne Letschert, rector at Maastricht University

Please note that the organizers of the Maastricht Debate invited all the registered European Political Parties to send a Spitzenkandidat prepared to speak in English. The decision of which Spitzenkandidat to send was made by the political parties.