Members of the European Parliament have voted on a motion of censure against the European Commission. With 175 votes in favour, 360 against, and 18 abstentions, the European Parliament rejected the motion. The censure would have removed EC President Ursula von der Leyen, along with her team, from office—a single year into her second term as the head of the EU executive arm.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen faced a motion of censure in the European Parliament on Thursday—a procedure last attempted in 2014. Though she was always likely to survive, observers said the vote may reveal further cracks in the centrist “ruling coalition” of the European People’s Party, the Socialists & Democrats and Renew Europe at a time when far-right parties have gained traction.
It did not materialise that way. Even though it was an ECR member who filed the motion, it was the Patriots who felt the urge to unseat Ms von der Leyen and her squad at its most pressing: 75 of their MEPs cast their votes for the motion and not a single one against it, with no abstentions. On the other side of the aisle, European People’s Party members voted overwhelmingly to keep the Commission in place: 167 of them voted against the censure and none in favour, with two abstentions.
The S&D, Renew Europe and ECR factions found themselves in all three positions. Most of the Socialists, despite their reservations, threw their weight behind Ms von der Leyen, with 97 members backing her against a sole vote for the censure and three abstentions.
You might be interested
Conservatives split, Greens loyal
Renew recorded a similar attitude with 58 votes against censuring the Commission, a single member supporting the motion, and five abstentions. The Conservatives, somewhat susprisingly, did not vote unanimously: while 39 of them supported the motion filed by their Romanian colleague Gheorghe Piperea to dethrone the Commission, two of them cast their votes against it and two abstained.
The Greens/EFA faction, while not formal allies of the executive, voted mostly to keep Ms von der Leyen in her seat: 33 against the motion with one abstention and not a single vote supporting it. The drive to depose the Commission also found support among 22 unaffiliated members, whle two voted against it and one abstained.
The motion itself was initiated by MEP Gheorghe Piperea (ECR/ROM), a member of the nationalist AUR, accusing Ms von der Leyen of misconduct during the covid crisis in her refusal to release text message communications with the CEO of Pfizer over covid vaccine procurement. But critics see the handling of the matter as a broader indictment of Ms von der Leyen’s approach in her second term.
Covid-19, election interference alleged
The resolution also criticises the Commission’s management of covid-19 recovery funds and the legal framework underpinning the EU’s new €150bn defence fund. It further alleges, without firm evidence, that Ms von der Leyen interfered in electoral processes in Germany and Romania.
Speaking to Parliament earlier this week, on 7 July, Ms von der Leyen defended her record and dismissed the censure motion as politically motivated, casting it as a clash between democratic and illiberal forces in Europe, alluding to the motion’s supporters as “conspiracy-driven” by everyone from “anti-vaxxers” to “Putin apologists.”
The European Parliament has never successfully passed a motion of censure against a sitting Commission president. The last such motion was in 2014.
