Even von der Leyen has been denounced by rivals as a “fake” Spitzenkandidat, given that she is not running as an MEP and is therefore not directly electable. Her main rival, the Socialists’ lead candidate Nicolas Schmit, is also not running as an MEP, breaking with the tradition set by his two predecessors, Martin Schulz and Frans Timmermans.
Other parties have put forward more than one candidate for the single-person role: The Greens, for example, have put forward MEPs Bas Eickhout and Terry Reintke.
The liberals nominated three candidates, all of whom ruled out running for the job of Commission president at their campaign launch event.
Even politicians who oppose the far right criticized the EBU’s decision not to allow them to debate. “I would not exclude them, no,” said Domènec Ruiz Devesa, a Spanish socialist MEP who is an EU federalist, and who wants the Spitzenkandidat system to work in tandem with a new EU-wide constituency of MEPs who can be elected by all voters.
An EBU spokesperson wrote in an email: “Two parties …[ECR and ID] … have not nominated lead candidates for the Presidency of the European Commission and are therefore not eligible to take part in the Debate.”
A senior Parliament official said this was a matter for the EBU and the political parties, and said nothing has changed compared with debates held in 2014 and 2019.