Ursula von der Leyen Survives No-Confidence Vote Amid Far-Right Challenge in EU Parliament

Ursula von der Leyen Survives No-Confidence Vote Amid Far-Right Challenge in EU Parliament

Last Updated Jul - 10 - 2025, 06:11 PM | Source : Fela News

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen defeats a no-confidence motion in the European Parliament, with 360 lawmakers voting against censure. The motion, l

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen comfortably survived a no-confidence vote on Thursday, July 10, 2025, as a large majority of EU lawmakers rejected a censure motion aimed at her. The motion, which accused von der Leyen of misconduct ranging from private text exchanges with Pfizer’s CEO during the COVID-19 pandemic to alleged misuse of EU funds and meddling in elections in Germany and Romania, failed by a vote of 360 against, 175 in favor, with 18 abstentions. The vote took place during a plenary session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, though von der Leyen was not in attendance.

This attempt to censure von der Leyen — the first such motion in the European Parliament in over ten years — became a focal point for criticism of her leadership and the European People’s Party (EPP), the dominant political group in the chamber. The EPP has come under fire for aligning with far-right parties to advance its agenda, a tactic made more viable following a rightward shift in the European Parliament after elections last year.

Terry Reintke, president of the Greens group, dismissed the censure as a publicity move orchestrated by pro-Putin populists, stating, “We won’t vote with the far-right and we do not support this motion.” Still, she criticized the EPP for pushing deregulatory policies and for forming alliances with anti-European forces. She emphasized the Greens’ willingness to forge pro-European coalitions but not at the cost of enabling far-right influence.

The motion was initiated by a bloc of hard-right lawmakers. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a long-time critic of von der Leyen and the EU’s Brussels leadership, supported the effort. In a Facebook post on the eve of the vote, he framed it as a battle between “imperial elites” and nationalist “patriots,” urging von der Leyen to resign and accept responsibility.

Tensions between von der Leyen’s Commission and Orbán’s government have been ongoing, with the EU freezing Hungary’s access to billions in funding due to democratic backsliding.

The Socialists and Democrats, the second-largest group in the Parliament, blamed the EPP for enabling the censure attempt through political double-dealing. During the July 7 debate, S&D leader Iratxe García Pérez challenged the EPP’s alliances, asking whether they preferred to govern with pro-European forces or those working to dismantle the Union. She cited the EPP’s collaboration with the far-right in setting hearing agendas for new commissioners and blocking an anti-corruption ethics body.

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