European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen successfully navigated a motion of no confidence brought against her Commission in the European Parliament.
The vote, held Thursday in Strasbourg, saw 175 Members of Parliament supporting the motion proposed by Romanian MEP Gheorghe Piperea, representing the right-wing ECR group. This fell significantly short of the two-thirds majority required to pass the motion. A total of 360 parliamentarians voted against the proposal, while 18 abstained.
Prior to the vote, analysts widely anticipated the motion would fail to garner the necessary threshold. The prevailing sentiment among most parliamentary groups was a reluctance to support a challenge from the far-right. The motion’s justification cited concerns regarding a perceived lack of transparency surrounding the procurement of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. The outcome underscores the continued support for President von der Leyen within the European Parliament despite the attempted censure.
