It was a rare chance to see all the leading candidates from Europe’s main political parties go head-to-head in a presidential-style debate to become the next head of the European Commission.
With just over a month to go until the European Parliament election, eight politicians met in the Dutch city of Maastricht and spent an hour and a half answering questions on key issues such as climate change, defense and European democracy.
If you missed it, don’t worry — we’ve picked out the key moments and some of the more heated exchanges. Host Sarah Wheaton is joined by colleagues POLITICO’s editor at large Nicholas Vinocur and Barbara Moens, chief EU correspondent and co-moderator of the debate. They give us their take on who won, who lost, and how it all went down. Did anyone manage to impress a room full of university students and over a quarter of a million people watching the debate online?
