Ursula von der Leyen survives rare censure vote in European Parliament
president
Ursula von der Leyen
has survived a rare vote of censure in the
European Parliament
.
Ms Von der Leyen had been expected to comfortably survive Thursday's vote, which in theory could have triggered the downfall of her commission. The motion failed to get the two-thirds majority it needed to pass.
The debate leading up to the vote lifted the lid on simmering discontent among centrist, centre-left and green MEPs, who voted the German back into office just under a year ago after rightwing nationalists had their best-ever European election results.
The motion of censure – tabled by the far-right, vaccine-sceptic Romanian MEP Gheorghe Piperea – was ostensibly about Ms von der Leyen's refusal to release text messages exchanged with the
Pfizer
chief executive at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Her stonewalling on the SMS messages has been condemned by the EU's highest court and described as 'maladministration' by an independent watchdog.
The motion also included criticism of the EU's Covid-19 recovery funds and the legal basis of a €150 billion defence fund, as well as unsubstantiated claims of interference in recent elections in Germany and Romania.
In a pugnacious performance at the European parliament on Monday, Ms von der Leyen derided 'false claims about election meddling' and attempts to 'rewrite history' on 'how Europe successfully overcame a global pandemic together'.
During her speech she cast the motion squarely as part of 'an age of struggle between democracy and illiberalism'. Referring to extremist parties 'fuelled by conspiracies, from anti-vaxxers to Putin apologists', she said: 'And you only have to look at some of the signatories of this motion to understand what I mean.'
But behind the scenes, her officials are worried that a large number of no-shows and abstentions on the vote from mainstream groups could damage her standing.
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