European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has survived a confidence vote tabled by a far-right faction in the European Parliament.
Although the outcome was not a surprise, the fact that it came about at all was not a positive signal for von der Leyen, who began her second term as Commission chief only a year ago.
Confidence votes of this kind are rare and the last one was tabled against Jean-Claude Juncker more than a decade ago.
Two-thirds of all 720 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) – or 480 – would have had to back the motion for it to pass.
Instead, only 175 voted in favour; 360 voted against and 18 abstained. The remaining MEPs did not vote.
The vote was initiated by Romanian far-right MEP Gheorghe Piperea, who accused von der Leyen of a lack of transparency over text messages she sent to the head of Pfizer during negotiations to secure Covid-19 vaccines.
The text of the motion said that von der Leyen’s Commission could no longer be trusted to “uphold the principles of transparency, accountability, and good governance essential to a democratic Union”.
During a fierce debate on Monday von der Leyen slammed her accusers as “conspiracy theorists”.
Hitting back at Piperea and what she called “his world of conspiracies and alleged sinister plots”, she said he and his cohort were “extremists”, “anti-vaxxers” and “Putin apologists”.
She also said the accusations against her over so-called Pfizergate were “simply a lie.”
Piperea had the backing of figures such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who posted on X a photo of von der Leyen alongside the caption “Time to go”.
But his own European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group was split.
A sizeable portion of the ECR is made up by Brothers of Italy (FdI), the party of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. FdI has been fostering a good relationship with von der Leyen and its MEPs voted against the motion.
In the end the votes in favour came primarily from the far-right groups Patriots for Europe (PfE) and the European of Sovereign Nations (ENS).
Von der Leyen survived the vote thanks to the support of her own centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialist & Democrats (S&D), the liberal Renew, the Greens and left-wing groups.
However, the days in the lead-up to the vote saw several groupings caveat their support with gripes over von der Leyen’s leadership.
Over the last year her centre-right EPP has increasingly teamed up with the far-right to pass amendments and resolutions on issues like migration and the environment, often irking liberals and left-wing parties.
Valérie Hayer, president of the centrist Renew Europe, echoed the sentiment, warning von der Leyen that her group’s support was “not guaranteed” and urging the Commission chief to “take back control” of the EPP and end “alliances with the far right.”
Ahead of the vote Iratxe García, leader of the S&D, said dismantling the Commission in the midst of geopolitical crisis would have been “irresponsible”.
“Our vote doesn’t mean that we are not critical of the European Commission,” García said, citing “the recent shifts by von der Leyen towards far-right pledges.”
Earlier this week there was a suggestion that the S&D might abstain from the vote, but were eventually persuaded to back von der Leyen after she reportedly ruled out cuts to social programmes in the upcoming budget.
As the vote against her leadership was taking place, Von der Leyen was giving a speech at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome.
Shortly after the motion was turned down, however, she posted on X: “As external forces seek to destabilise and divide us, it is our duty to respond in line with our values.”
“Thank you, and long live Europe,” she added.
