EU chief slams ‘extremist’ censure motion ahead of confidence vote

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen Monday dismissed a far-right sponsored motion of no confidence against her as a conspiracy theory-laden attempt to undermine European unity, ahead of a vote that casts renewed scrutiny on her leadership.

The rare challenge has virtually no chance of unseating the conservative European Commission president when a vote is held Thursday in Strasbourg, France. But it provides her opponents across the spectrum a chance to flex their muscle.

“It is taken right from the oldest playbook of extremists, polarising society, eroding trust in democracy with false claims,” von der Leyen told the European Parliament Monday.

Attacking its supporters as “anti-vaxxers” and Russian President Vladimir “Putin apologists”, she urged lawmakers to vote down the challenge and renew confidence in her commission at a critical time for the bloc.

“When the commission sits down with the US to negotiate on trade and tariffs, Europe must show strength. When we stand up for Ukraine’s future, Europe must show strength,” she said.

“This strength only comes through our unity. So let us come together.”

The confidence vote was initiated by a Romanian far-right lawmaker, Gheorghe Piperea, who accuses von der Leyen of a lack of transparency over text messages she sent to the head of the Pfizer pharmaceutical giant when negotiating Covid vaccines.

The commission’s failure to release the messages — the focus of multiple court cases — has given weight to critics who accuse its boss of centralised and opaque decision-making.

That is also a growing refrain from the commission chief’s traditional allies on the left and centre, who have bones to pick over the status quo in parliament — where her centre-right camp has increasingly teamed up with the far-right to further its agenda.

– ‘Putin’s puppets’ –

“Pfizergate” aside, Romania’s Piperea accuses the commission of interfering in his country’s recent presidential election, which saw pro-European Nicusor Dan narrowly beat EU critic and nationalist George Simion.

The vote came after Romania’s constitutional court scrapped an initial ballot over allegations of Russian interference and massive social media promotion of the far-right frontrunner, who was barred from standing again.

The EU opened a formal probe into TikTok after the cancelled vote.

Piperea’s challenge has support from part of the far-right — including the Patriots for Europe group that includes France’s National Rally and the party of Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban

But Piperea’s own group, the ECR, is split, as its largest faction, the party of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, said it will back von der Leyen.

The vote was set last week after the motion gathered the minimum 72 signatures — one-tenth of the 720-seat legislature, where von der Leyen was re-elected with 401 votes last July.

To pass it needs two-thirds of votes cast, representing a majority of all lawmakers.

Parliament’s biggest force, von der Leyen’s European People’s Party (EPP), flatly rejects the challenge to the commission chief, with group leader Manfred Weber describing it Monday as a waste of time.

On the left and centre, there is no question of backing the motion.

But both camps want von der Leyen to clarify her allegiances — accusing her of cosying up to the far-right to push through contested measures — most notably to roll back environmental rules.

“Who do you want to govern with? Do you want to govern with those who want to destroy Europe, or those of us who fight every day to build it?” asked the head of the Socialists and Democrats, Iratxe Garcia Perez.

Centrist leader Valerie Hayer described the commission as “too centralised and sclerotic” before warning von der Leyen that “nothing can be taken for granted.” “Bring order back to your political family,” she said.

A successful no-confidence vote would trigger the resignation of von der Leyen’s 27-member commission in what would be a historical first.

The closest parallel dates from March 1999, when the team led by Luxembourg’s Jacques Santer resigned over damning claims of corruption and mismanagement rather than face a confidence vote it was set to lose.

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