Von der Leyen survives no-confidence vote after making key concessions

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has survived the first no-confidence motion against the Commission in the European Parliament (EP) after making a series of concessions.

On Thursday, a clear majority of MEPs rejected the censure motion. However, von der Leyen had to promise the Social Democrats that she would maintain the social fund as a separate fund, contrary to previous plans, and would present the anti-discrimination directive she had previously blocked to the EP.

These concessions became necessary because von der Leyen had caused significant discontent among all parliamentary groups with a questionable deal related to the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines and other measures. Observers believe that von der Leyen’s position has been weakened following the vote.

The no-confidence motion was submitted to parliament by a right-wing MEP from Romania.

Anger towards von der Leyen in Romania

The no-confidence motion against Ursula von der Leyen was triggered by intrigues during the presidential elections in Romania.

In Romania, the election results were annulled after the victory of right-wing candidate Călin Georgescu in the first round.

In the following months, Georgescu was prevented from running again in the repeat elections by the Romanian judiciary. A large part of the Romanian public believes this was done at the request of the European Commission, which had openly expressed its displeasure with Georgescu.

Von der Leyen had also announced in mid-December 2024 that she would investigate possible violations by the social media platform TikTok, whose users had run an intensive campaign for Georgescu.

Angry slogans were chanted at demonstrations in Bucharest in March, and distrust in the EU was further fueled by Western European interference in the repeat elections.

The no-confidence motion against von der Leyen was submitted by Gheorghe Piperea, an MEP from the right-wing Romanian party AUR, and was supported by George Simion, Georgescu’s defeated successor in the repeat elections.

Arrows point to von der Leyen in Covid-19 vaccine scandal

Piperea submitted his motion at a time when discontent with von der Leyen in the EP had grown significantly, extending beyond far-right groups.

One of the reasons for this is the scandal surrounding the contract the Commission President signed with Albert Bourla, the head of the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer, for the delivery of 1.8 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines at a staggering cost of $35 billion.

The price is considered very high and the number of vaccine doses ordered excessive. The text messages in which von der Leyen agreed to the deal with Bourla are untraceable, much like text messages from her time as Germany’s defense minister.

In addition to the suspicious circumstances surrounding the vaccine deal, von der Leyen’s decision to approve the “ReArm EU” armament program, at an unprecedented cost of €800 billion, without consulting the European Parliament, has also significantly increased discontent.

Finally, she unilaterally withdrew the anti-“greenwashing” bill, against the will of many political groups in the EP.

A series of concessions from the president

The no-confidence motion was rejected by a majority of MEPs last Thursday. The main reason for this was that the motion was submitted by a right-wing MEP with whom political groups, especially the Social Democrats and the Greens, did not want to cooperate.

The motion was supported by the Patriots for Europe (PfE) group, including the French National Rally (RN), the Belgian Vlaams Belang, and the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), as well as the Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) group, including the Alternative for Germany (AfD).

A clear majority, including the European People’s Party (EPP), the Social Democrats (S&D), and the Liberals, with 360 MEPs, voted against the motion.

However, von der Leyen had to make two concessions to secure the support of the Social Democrats in particular. The European Social Fund+ will remain an independent fund from 2028 to 2034, and the Commission will present the previously postponed anti-discrimination directive next week.

Conservative EP group divided

The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) faction was divided in the vote.

In addition to members of Romania’s AUR party, members of Poland’s PiS (Law and Justice) party supported the motion. Among these members was Patryk Jaki (PiS), one of the two leaders of the ECR faction.

However, Nicola Procaccini, the group leader of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, and the FdI group opposed the motion. The FdI has been working in close cooperation with the conservative EPP and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for some time.

The participation rate in the ECR group was extremely low at only 56%; 35 of the 79 MEPs abstained from the vote to avoid taking a side.

The disagreement within the group continues between the parties with which the EPP now systematically cooperates and those, like AUR, that are still excluded from power.

When will the era of a right-wing majority in the EP begin?

The EPP group is now going beyond cooperation with parts of the ECR group in certain areas, voting with the PfE group on some issues such as preventing migration and partially departing from the European Green Deal.

On the other hand, it is said that this only applies to draft resolutions or reports submitted to the European Parliament; the EPP group has not yet acted with the PfE on legislative decisions.

Of course, this has also succeeded in increasing the pressure, especially on the Social Democrats, to shift significantly to the right to prevent the EPP from voting with the PfE.