Brussels
Reuters
–
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen survived a vote of no confidence in the European Parliament on Thursday, which was primarily brought about by far-right lawmakers who claimed she and her team would undermine trust in the EU through illegal activities.
As expected, the move didn’t get a two-thirds majority that they needed to pass. Only 175 members of Congress supported the allegations, 360 voted against them and 18 abstained.
Romanian nationalist Gheorghe Piperea, the lead sponsor of the motion, criticised the committee’s refusal to disclose a text message between Von Der Leyen and the chief executive of vaccine maker Pfizer during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Decisions are unclear and discretionary, causing fears of abuse and corruption. The cost of European Union obsessions such as climate change was huge,” Piperea told Parliament on Monday.
During her leadership debate, von der Leyen defended her record in Parliament, rejecting criticism of pandemic management, claiming that her approach ensured equal access to vaccines across the EU.
The denunciation move was unlikely to succeed, but for Von Der Leyen, it was a political headache as her committee tried to negotiate with US President Donald Trump’s administration to prevent a sharp US tariff on EU goods.
It was the first time since 2014 that the committee president had faced such a motion. President Jean Claude Junker then survived the vote.
