Von der Leyen faces vote of no confidence in the EU parliament

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen must face a vote of no confidence in the EU Parliament. Parliament President Roberta Metsola informed the parliamentary group leaders of a corresponding motion on Wednesday, according to parliamentary circles. The vote is scheduled for Thursday next week in Strasbourg, but success is considered unlikely.

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The motion for a vote of no confidence reportedly came from a Romanian MEP from the Group of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). As the heads of the political groups in the EU Parliament stated on Wednesday, at least 72 MEPs signed the motion, meaning that it has been approved for the vote in Parliament. MEPs are due to discuss it next Monday.

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Members of the ECR group include the ultra-right Fratelli d'Italia party of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the national-conservative PiS party from Poland, the party of far-right French politician Eric Zemmour and the far-right Spanish party Vox. However, the ECR distanced itself from the motion: “This is not an initiative of our group,” a spokesperson for the party group told the AFP news agency.

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The reasons given for the motion of censure were the text messages that von der Leyen had exchanged with the CEO of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as alleged EU interference in the presidential election in Romania and the EU funding program for defence spending.

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It is unlikely that the vote of no confidence will be successful. This would require a two-thirds majority. However, if the motion is accepted against all expectations, not only von der Leyen but the entire Commission would have to resign.
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To date, no European Commission has ever been overthrown by a motion of censure. In 1999, however, the Commission of the then President Jacques Santer pre-empted a possible vote of no confidence and resigned. Prior to this, allegations of corruption against a Commissioner had become public.