[13] The Qatargate corruption scandal, which began in December 2022, had destabilized the European Parliament following the arrest of several MEPs including Marc Tarabella; Andrea Cozzolino and Eva Kaili who was stripped of her vice presidency.

[96] On 18 January, the PES announced that the Luxembourgish European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit was the sole nominee to meet the nominating requirements.

[99] On 7 March 2024, following months of speculation, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas announced that she had rejected the offer from ALDE to be the party's Spitzenkandidat.

[103][104] During the 8 March 2024 Convention in Florence, the European Democratic Party nominated Sandro Gozi as its lead candidate and approved its election programme.

[115] At its General Assembly in Luxembourg in January 2024, the European Pirate Party nominated Marcel Kolaja and Anja Hirschel as lead candidates.

[120] Immigration was cited by Politico as a key issue in elections in several countries, including Austria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland and Sweden.

[123] Ursula von der Leyen, the current European Commission President, did not formally announce her intention to stand for a second term until February 2024.

[92] and on 7 March she was elected European People's Party presidential candidate with 400 votes in favour, 89 against and 10 blank, out of the 737 EPP congressional delegates.

[136] On 2 April, the Czech news portal Denik N reported, citing several ministers, that there are audio recordings of the German far-right politician Petr Bystron (MP, AfD) that incriminate him of having accepted money.

Ukrainian politician and businessman Viktor Medvedchuk, who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is believed to be the man behind Voice of Europe.

[138] Ahead of the 2024 European Parliament election, National Rally spokespeople Jordan Bardella and Caroline Parmentier announced they would part ways with Alternative for Germany after the election and not include the AfD in the ID group due to controversial statements on Nazi Germany made by AfD lead candidate Maximilian Krah in an interview and allegations of Chinese espionage influence on the party.

[147] Several news outlets have speculated on the possibility of a new group guided by the German Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht party, created in January 2024.

[155] It was hosted by Studio Europa Maastricht and Politico Europe and was EBU’s Eurovision News Exchange distributed the feed to its public service media network of members.

Two parties, the ECR and ID, were considered by EBU not eligible to take part in the debate, since they have not nominated lead candidates for the Presidency of the European Commission and.

[165][166] The debate questions focused on six main topics: Economy and Jobs, Defence and Security, Climate and Environment, Democracy and Leadership, Migration and Borders, Innovation and Technology.

[196] Before all results were declared, President of France Emmanuel Macron announced the dissolution of the French National Assembly, calling a snap election on 30 June.

[204][205][206] Elected MEPs from the Netherlands' Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB) and New Social Contract (NSC), Czech Republic's Mayors and Independents (STAN), Denmark's Liberal Alliance (LA) and Germany's Family Party also submitted requests to join the EPP Group.

[208][209] However, on 5 July, Spain's Vox announced their intention to leave the ECR, in order to join the new Patriots for Europe alliance;[210][211] as a result, the group's membership dropped to 78 MEPs, just one ahead of Renew.

[212] In June 2024, it was reported that five elected MEPs from Volt Europa, two of whom from the Netherlands and three from Germany,[213] had begun negotiations both with Renew Europe and the Greens/EFA to join their respective ranks on a stable basis.

[223][224] The agreement included an initial six-month spell of "reciprocal discussion" involving the political views expressed both by The Left and the M5S; Italian fact-checking portal Pagella Politica noted that their respective electoral programs diverged more or less evidently on several prominent topics, including open support of anti-fascist values, the EU's relations with the NATO, immigration and commercial policies, as well as the goals set by the European Green Deal.

[225] Following the announcement of the new Patriots for Europe alliance, Identity and Democracy saw several member parties leave the formation, or express interest in doing so,[226][227] with examples including Portugal's Chega,[228] France's National Rally[226] and Italy's Lega.

[226][227] According to anonymous ID members, the whole group could eventually get merged into Patriots for Europe, as part of negotiations supervised by the leader of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen.

[233] Portugal's Chega officially entered the alliance on 2 July,[228][235] while Italy's Lega also publicly expressed interest in joining the new group.

[237] The following day, both Denmark's Danish People's Party (DF)[238] and Belgium's Vlaams Belang switched from ID to the new group;[236][239] as a result, Patriots for Europe met the EU Parliament's minimum threshold for formal recognition.

[236] An MEP from the DF party, Anders Vistisen, stated that they agreed to join the alliance upon the condition that each national member would be allowed to pursue their own foreign policy, including on matters such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[231] The following day, the group was officially established in the European Parliament: aside of the aforementioned parties, Italy's Lega, Czech Republic's Přísaha, Greece's Voice of Reason and Latvia's Latvia First also joined Patriots of Europe, bringing the group to a total amount of 84 MEPs, and making it the third-largest formation in the hemicycle.

[241] On 10 July, It was reported that the MEPs from a branch of Poland's Confederation, National Movement, had expressed an interest in joining the PfE group, which was neither confirmed nor denied by Patriots.

According to reports, the group could also include Poland's Confederation, Bulgaria's Revival, Spain's Se Acabó La Fiesta (SALF), Romania's S.O.S.

[243][244] On 10 July, it was reported that a new parliamentary group, named Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN), had officially formed, having met the minimum requirements to get formal recognition within the European Parliament.

[242] Three MEPs, Maximilian Krah (from Germany's AfD), Braun and Milan Mazurek (from Slovakia's Republika) were all reportedly excluded from joining the group, due to the anti-semitic and Holocaust-denying nature of their previous public statements.