EU's von der Leyen defends record in face of censure motion
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen defended her record on Monday as the European Union's executive body faced a censure motion proposed by a group of mainly far-right lawmakers in the European Parliament.
The vote on the motion, scheduled for Thursday, is destined to fall far short of the two-thirds majority needed to force out von der Leyen's Commission as centrist groups that hold a majority in the parliament have said they will not support it.
But the motion was an unwelcome political headache for the EU executive chief just as her Commission is in the midst of negotiations to try to avoid hefty tariffs on European products from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.
Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, von der Leyen pushed back against criticism in the motion of her handling of the COVID-19 crisis, arguing her strategy had ensured all EU members had equal access to vaccines.
"This is the Europe of solidarity that I love - and this is the Europe that the extremists hate," von der Leyen, a German former defence minister, declared to applause in the chamber.
Speaking before von der Leyen, the motion's lead sponsor, Romanian nationalist Gheorghe Piperea, accused the Commission of lacking transparency and failing to respect justice.
"The decision-making process has become opaque and discretionary and raises fears of abuse and corruption," he said.
Von der Leyen rejected those accusations. But, in an apparent nod to discontent from some lawmakers who see her governing style as high-handed, she said she was committed to working with the parliament "every step of the way".
"I want to say that I hear your concerns loud and clear," she said.
Even as the centrist groups rejected the motion, the debate exposed tensions among them. Several criticised von der Leyen's centre-right European People's Party for siding with the far right on migration, climate and other policies.
"Do you want to govern with those who want to destroy Europe or those of us who fight every day to build it?" Iratxe Garcia Perez, leader of the centre-left Socialists and Democrats group, asked von der Leyen in her speech.
(Reporting by Andrew Gray and Milan Strahm; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)
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