The Maastricht Debate – Europe’s Youth and Visions of the Future Ahead of the European Elections
By Nora Fotini El-Awdan, 8 minutes
Overview: the Maastricht Debate
On Monday, April 29, 2024, the lead candidates (“Spitzenkandidat:innen”) of eight European parties faced-off against each other at the “Maastricht Debate 2024.” The contenders presented and defended their respective visions for the future of Europe ahead of the European Parliament elections in June. The key topics of the debate were selected by Europe’s youth based on a survey conducted by Maastricht University: (1) Climate change, (2) Foreign and Security policy and (3) EU Democracy.
While Bas Eickhout, the Dutch Spitzenkandidat of the European Green Party, received most votes before and after the debate, Ursula von der Leyen, the lead candidate from the European People’s Party and current president of the European Commission, scored both times in second place. Young people followed the lively debate hosted by Politico and Studio Europa not only on-site in Maastricht’s “Theater aan het Vrijthof”, but also at Europe’s biggest Watch Party on the Vrijthof square, at 94 other Watch Parties in Europe and the World as well as through the YouTube livestream of Politico Europe.
The Organization of the Debate
As early as last autumn, excited whispers of “the Maastricht Debate” taking place in 2024 have been travelling from seminar room to seminar room at Maastricht University. As this year was the third time the debate was taking place in Maastricht (2019; 2014), aftermovies and recaps of previous debates showed us what we, the students in Maastricht and as part of Europe’s youth, could expect from this event.
The hosts Studio Europa and Politico as well as the supporters Maastricht University, the Province of Limburg, the City of Maastricht and the European Parliament promoted the event through various means – on social media, through newsletters but also with a big cartoon cube on Vrijthof square which featured the European Cartoon Award winners and further details about the debate.
The registration for attending the Maastricht debate on-site was quickly full with a long waiting list in place. Still, there were students who criticised that the news regarding the event did not reach them, especially from other faculties than FASoS or the Faculty of Law (e.g., in Randwyck).
The moderators of the debate were two journalists, Barabara Moens, the Chief EU Correspondent at Politico and University teacher at the University of Brussels, and Marcia Luyten, Dutch writer, publicist, former diplomat, and TV host of the show “Buitenhof” on politics and current affairs as well as a Maastricht University alumni. The lead candidates joining the debate were confirmed a few days in advance, here presented alphabetically: Walter Baier (Party of the European Left), Bas Eickhout (European Green Party), Valeriu Ghilețchi (European Christian Political Movement), Ursula von der Leyen (European People’s Party), Maylis Roßberg (European Free Alliance), Nicolas Schmit (Party of the European Socialists), Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party) and Anders Vistisen (Identity and Democracy Party).
The schedule for the 90-minute-debate featured the three key themes, with a number of questions addressed to all candidates, and some to specific candidates individually with each of them having 45 seconds to answer them. Every candidate also gave a one-minute opening and closing statement that conveyed the main take-aways and their respective visions. The candidates with the most audience votes based on polls stood in the centre of the stage, while candidates with lesser votes stood towards the edges.
The moderators ensured that everyone received an equal amount of speaking time by cutting off speeches that were too long through a timer that was present during all statements – even though most statements remained within the time limit. The “wildcard” of each candidate gave them the opportunity to ask another candidate on stage a direct question, and video-questions that were handed in by the younger public before the debate were also included to answer the most pressing questions of the European youth.
Inside the Maastricht Debate
The walk inside the Theater aan het Vrijthof itself was already exciting as there was a red carpet laid out in front of the entrance while press and cameras documented the arrivals. Inside the location, most young people quickly tried to secure a good seat next to their friends, while others were stuck in the wardrobe queue. Since there was plenty of time between the closing time of the entrance (18h00) and the beginning of the debate (19h00), many people in the audience skimmed the Politico EU magazines from April 25 - May 8 that were available on the seats.
The atmosphere was lively: the audience consisted of hundreds of young people aged between 16 and 29 that together with media, city and university representatives voiced their support or disapproval during the debate through loud, long clapping, laughter, or furious whispers. And did you see the paper airplane that went flying across the debate hall and landed on the table of the moderators to most probably get a question asked? The sender and content remain an unsolved puzzle since the airplaine was not unfolded during the debate.
The audience had the chance to vote three times: the first QR code led to a test vote asking if the audience already knew who they would vote for (yes/no), followed by two votings on who the audience would like to see as the next President of the European Commission featuring all eight candidates – first before and then after the debate. While the QR code did work out, there was barely enough time to open the QR code and vote as the (first) result of the still on-going vote was already pronounced (with the disclaimer that it was still changing).
Before the debate and at the time of the screening, Bas Eickhout (EGP) was in the lead with 32%, followed by Ursula von der Leyen (EPP) with 25% and Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (ALDE) with 16%. Fourth position held Nicolas Schmidt (PES) with 13% followed by Walter Baier (PEUPP/PPEU) and Maylis Roßberg (EFA) with each 6% ending with Andre Vistisen (ID) and Valeriu Ghilețchi (ECPM).
In the post-debate vote one could see that the (re-)presentations of the lead candidates on stage had influenced the voting behaviour: While Bas Eickhout was still in the lead at the time of the screening with 45%, the percentage increased in comparison to the previous poll, and he was pronounced the “winner” of the debate. The candidate was followed by Ursula von der Leyen with 31%/32% of all votes at that time. Walter Baier with 6% moved up to the third position, while Strack-Zimmermann moved from third to sixth position with 4%. Maylis Roßberg received 5% , followed by Nicolas Schmitt in fifth place with 4% and thus the same number of votes as Strack-Zimmermann, followed by Valeriu Ghilețchi and Andre Vistisen with 2% and the last place. While the percentage still shifted a few minutes later, the ranking order changed minimally with Baier and Schmidt tying.
Overall, the lead candidates were able to present their perspectives on the three key topics. Because of the limited time and many speakers, great depth regarding the themes was not achieved. Additionally, some candidates had a language barrier that made it hard to understand the message which became more clear in the unfolding debate. The Blue&Yellow Blog features each lead candidates’ specific positions on the three topics and content takeaways in a separate article.
What nicely summarised the debate was something that Maylis Roßberg, the youngest lead candidate, said in her closing statement: for all lead candidates to remember the view in front of them - the “dreams, hopes and imaginations” of “1000 young people” on how their future will look like.
This sentence underlines what this debate sought to achieve: speak about issues that are prevalent for Europe’s youth and encourage them to go vote on June 6-9 for the European parliamentary elections to protect and fulfil the vision of democracy in Europe and to shape their own future.
The Watch Party Festival at Vrijthof
The message conveyed above was also communicated through the programme at the Watch Party Festival at the Vrijthof. For example, the documentary “Europe I See You” and the short clip presented during the debate both underlined the importance of showing solidarity with refugees, help their integration in the society, fight for democracy and stand up against racism, extremism and other forces trying to misinform or polarise society. At the same time, the very human-centric and touching composition of both films encouraged the audience to keep building a stronger future together: humans with humans – because democracy is an ongoing work that people fought for in the past, and European’s must keep standing up for today.
On the “Boulevard Europa”, various information stands like the ones of the ECA, the UM Green Office, European Youth Parliament and the Province Limburg presented their work, answered questions, and provided opportunities to test visitor’s knowledge about the region, EU and the European continent. The BomBRASStic brass band gave the festival its festive ambiance together with sunbeds provided by Lumière. In the crowd, visitors could see well-known Maastricht-based musician André Rieu enjoying the festivities.
The Maastricht Debate was accompanied by security checks and by pro-Palestinian protests right outside the festival site. After the Maastricht Debate live stream finished, the Watch Party Festival was cut short, due to security issues surrounding the demonstrations according to eye-witnesses, but there are no confirmed facts on what exactly happened.
Even though the festival was cut short, young visitors left with the knowledge that their vote counts and is more important than ever to shape Europe’s future based on their visions. Find out more about the reactions of visitors to the Watch Party Festival and the Maastricht Debate in the blue&yellow article dedicated to it specifically.
The picture shows the three ECA board members and three members of the Council that represented the association.
Main Takeaway
All in all, the Maastricht Debate 2024 was very lively, well-organised and definitely worth the on-site experience. Even though the debate itself did not show much depth regarding the three themes, and not everything important was discussed on stage, the chosen questions and reactions showed the different visions of the lead candidates quite clearly. The audience was highly engaged and vocal during the debate and the poll showed that the debate helped the young audience to make an informed choice.
There only remains one thing to say: keep following the election campaign and reflect on it critically, make your own informed choice, find out how you can give your vote and go vote on June 6-9 in the European Parliamentary Elections! Your voice counts!
