Crossword Genius

Top politician going to European film debut (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

premiere

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'debut' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'top politician going to european film' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'top' could be 'premier' and 'premier' is present in the answer.
'european' could be 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU) and 'e' is located in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for premiere that I've seen before include "Opening performance" , "First public performance of a play or movie" , "Leading lady" , "Mere pier (anag.)" , "Play's first public performance" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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