Ursula von der Leyen once again largely escaped censure this Thursday, October 9, hailing the “strong support” of the European Parliament, although criticism of the President of the Commission persists.
The MEPs, meeting in plenary session in Strasbourg, clearly rejected two motions of censure, one coming from the extreme right and the other from the radical left. The first, presented by Les Patriotes pour l’Europe (Pfe), a group chaired by Frenchman Jordan Bardella, obtained 179 votes in favor, 378 votes against and 37 abstentions.
Fracture on the right, the left divided
Changing course, four right-wing French MEPs, including Republican vice-president François-Xavier Bellamy, combined their votes with those of the far right, the only parliamentarians from the European right (EPP) to make this decision.
Questioned by AFP, François-Xavier Bellamy explained that he wanted to express his opposition to the free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur, so as not to “be in contradiction with the commitments made during our campaign and with the fight we wage tirelessly, in particular, to protect our farmers.”
The second motion, coming from the left-wing group, co-chaired by the Frenchwoman Manon Aubry, obtained only 133 votes in favor, with a greater number of parliamentarians against (383 votes against) and 78 abstentions. This weak mobilization in favor of the leftist movement aroused the wrath of Manon Aubry on social network X.
“Only 3% of European socialists, including none French, voted in favor of our motion of no confidence against Ursula von der Leyen,” lamented Manon Aubry.
By comparison, 30% of the Greens and only 10% of elected officials from the Patriots for Europe group supported it.
Von der Leyen praises Parliament’s “strong support”
After these results, better than the executive feared, Ursula von der Leyen applauded the “strong support” of Parliament in a message published on the social network X.
He thus consolidates his coalition between the center social democrats (Renewal) and the right (EPP), although the so-called pro-European camp also expresses its criticism.
“The majority work poorly”
This Thursday’s votes had an air of déjà vu for Ursula von der Leyen, after a motion of no confidence initiated in July by the far-right Romanian MEP, Gheorghe Piperea (ECR). This motion was supported by 175 MEPs, mainly from the extreme right, and a dozen parliamentarians from the radical left. It was rejected by 360 votes.
Since July, “we cannot say that we have really made progress in this Parliament. The pro-European majority that elected them works poorly, still so poorly,” lamented the leader of the centrists Valérie Hayer during a debate on Monday in the chamber.
Ursula von der Leyen is criticized by the left and center, and more broadly by the right from which she comes, for cultivating ambiguity with the far right and for dismantling environmental laws.
“You must choose between your allies and those who are not our friends,” the president of the Social Democrats Iratxe García told him on Monday.
Despite the criticism, right-wing parliamentarians, social democrats and centrists remain largely supportive of Ursula von der Leyen. Frenchmen Jordan Bardella (Patriots for Europe) and Manon Aubry (La Gauche) asked him to leave.
Crossfire between Bardella and Aubry, encouragement from von der Leyen
On Monday, Manon Aubry accused her of “inaction” in the face of the “genocide” in Gaza, while Jordan Bardella denounced a “precipitous migratory flight” from the EU and a “trade surrender” in the agreement with Donald Trump. In a message published Thursday, he expanded his accusations to a “bureaucratic and financial leak.”
“Europe is not an administrative machine, it is a civilization. And a civilization is not governed by rules, but with the consent of the free peoples and the Nations that compose it,” he stated.
Ursula von der Leyen responded to these attacks with a more conciliatory tone than in July, when she accused the promoters of the censure motion of being “extremists”, “anti-vaccines” and admirers of “Putin”. He called for unity and warned that any division would be “exploited” by the European Union’s adversaries, mentioning Russia.
A motion of no confidence can be presented by a tenth of the MEPs, or 72 parliamentarians. To be adopted, it must receive a two-thirds majority of the votes cast, representing the majority of MEPs. The European Parliament has never overthrown a Commission.
A particular case in 1999: before a lost vote, the then European Commission, chaired by the Luxembourger Jacques Santer, resigned after a damning report on its “great responsibility” in cases of fraud.
Source: BFM TV
