Von der Leyen to face Parliament confidence vote next Thursday

Ursula von der Leyen is to face a European Parliament no-confidence vote on Thursday, six officials told POLITICO.

The latest challenge to the European Commission president, in what is proving to be a rocky first year in her second term in power, will see the German forced to appear in a debate about her leadership among lawmakers in Strasbourg on Monday, followed by the vote three days later.

It is the first time in more than a decade that the head of the Commission has faced such a move.

At this stage, the vote is mainly symbolic — the majority of political groups have already signaled that they will vote against the motion of no confidence — but it underscores the growing anger with her in Brussels after a string of controversial moves and scandals.

If the no-confidence motion were to pass, it would lead to the resignation of the entire Commission and trigger the complex process of appointing 27 new European commissioners.

Political turmoil
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced the scheduling to political group leaders on Wednesday evening.

The debate has been scheduled for Monday, during which von der Leyen will appear. That would be followed by a discussion in which political group leaders will express their views.

Romanian right-wing lawmaker Gheorghe Piperea filed the motion of censure after gathering enough signatures last week to express outrage over her secret texts from 2021 with Albert Bourla, the chief executive of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. They related to discussions on getting vaccines to Europe at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

While some members of von der Leyen’s European People’s Party and the right-wing ECR have withdrawn their support for the motion after pressure from their own ranks, it still garnered the 72 signatures needed for it to happen.

Despite recent political turmoil, with the Socialists and liberals accusing von der Leyen of aligning with the far right to water down green reforms, the EU’s centrist majority, which supported her presidency, has little appetite to support the move.