16/05/2019 (Agence Europe) – On Thursday, 16 May, DiEM25—a member party of the pan-European European Spring movement—lamented that its Spitzenkandidat, the Greek Yánis Varoufákis, could not participate in the debate among candidates for the next European Commission (see EUROPE 12255/2) the day before. “It is a tragedy for democracy that EBU (European Broadcasting Union) excluded Yanis Varoufakis”, DiEM25 Coordinating Collective member Davide Castro told EUROPE. According to him, the “established” parties did not want to face “the only person who stood up to them in 2015 during the Greek crisis”. In April, the European Spring had launched a petition to be invited in protest of the EBU’s decision; the organisation had explained its refusal by the fact that Mr Varoufákis was not part of an institutional political group established at the European level. (see EUROPE 12241/23). (PH)