But with just seven weeks to go until the European Parliament election, the two main contenders — Manfred Weber of the European People's Party (EPP) and Frans Timmermans of the Party of European Socialists (PES) — are scheduled to go head-to-head in just one EU-wide debate.
By contrast, current Commission President Jean-Claude Junker of the EPP and his main rival, former Parliament President Martin Schulz of the PES, faced off in nine debates in 2014, including four times for an EU-wide audience. [...]
The main liberal party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), has refused to put forward a single nominee, viewing the Spitzenkandidat process as unfairly benefitting Weber and the conservatives. Instead, ALDE has put forward a slate of candidates and said that different members of that list would represent the party in debates, notably European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, a Dane, and former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, ALDE's group leader in Parliament.
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