Politico: Von der Leyen Faces Twin No-Confidence Motions in EU Parliament

By Staff, Agencies

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is set to face two separate no-confidence votes at the European Parliament in early October, Politico reported Tuesday, citing an internal email from Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

The motions of censure, submitted by both the Patriots for Europe and The Left groups, will be debated during the October 6–9 plenary session. Von der Leyen, who has long divided opinion in Brussels, now faces criticism from opposite ends of the political spectrum.

The Patriots for Europe accused her of lacking accountability and transparency, particularly in dealings over trade agreements with the United States and Mercosur. “The EU is weaker today than ever due to the persistent failure of the president of the Commission to cope with the most pressing challenges,” the group declared.

The Left group likewise condemned her trade policies but focused more heavily on the bloc’s handling of the Gaza conflict, arguing that the Commission has been passive and failed to hold Israel accountable.

Both motions were filed just after midnight on September 10, the first moment possible following the previous no-confidence bid in July. That initiative, led by Romanian MEP Gheorghe Piperea, revolved around the so-called “Pfizergate” controversy concerning the disappearance of text messages between von der Leyen and Pfizer’s CEO during vaccine procurement talks.

Von der Leyen dismissed those accusations as “simply a lie” and branded her detractors “conspiracy theorists”. She survived the July challenge comfortably, with only 175 MEPs backing the motion and 360 voting against it, well short of the two-thirds majority required from the chamber’s 720 members.

Although rare in the past — the last no-confidence motion before July was filed against Jean-Claude Juncker in 2014 — such initiatives now appear to be mounting against the current Commission chief.