Can Ursula von der Leyen's Commission be toppled?
European politicians will have their say on it this afternoon in Strasbourg.
The "motion of censure" was launched by Romanian MEP Gheorghe Piperea, from the ultra-conservative party AUR, over the so-called "Pfizergate" – the text messages EU President Ursula von der Leyen exchanged with a vaccine chief at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The texts haven't been made public despite the ruling of an EU court that the Commission was wrong to deny access to those messages.
In their motion, the group of 75 MEPs accused her of acting without "transparency and accountability".
President von der Leyen called those accusations a "lie" when she descended on the Parliament on Monday, accompanied by all 26 Commissioners.
During what proved to be an explosive debate, Ms von der Leyen described those behind the motion as "extremists" and "Putin's puppets", who are "trying to drive a wedge between the pro-democratic and pro-European forces" in the parliament.
She defended her government's response to the pandemic, saying that the procurement of vaccines was transparent and "all 27 Member States decided to buy their vaccines on their own will."
"There were no secrets, no hidden clauses, no obligation to buy for member states," she told the packed chamber.
The EU leader also celebrated the "development of the vaccine in record time" and the "Europe of solidarity" that "the extremists hate."
The vote on the motion is destined to fall far short of the two-thirds majority needed to force out Ms von der Leyen's Commission as centrist groups that hold a majority in the parliament have said they will not support it.
However, it exposed mounting discontent among Ms von der Leyen's allies in the centrist coalition.
Europe's liberals, socialists and democrats and the greens used the opportunity to vent their frustration with the EU leadership.
The Commission's move last month to withdraw its proposed law to fight corporate greenwashing after a request from conservative lawmakers, drew a lot of criticism from EPP's coalition partners.
The Renew Group leader Valérie Hayer accused Ms von der Leyen of seeking "alliances of convenience with the far right".
In her fiery speech, President of the group of Socialists and Democrats Iratxe García Pérez, asked the president whether she wants "to govern with those who want to destroy Europe or those who fight every day to build it?"
Among Irish MEPs, there's hardly any support for the initiators of the motion but also enough criticism for Ms von der Leyen's governance.
The members of the European People's Party grouping were asked by its leadership to unanimously reject it. As part of it, the Fine Gael delegation said it will be rejecting the motion tabled "by far-right members of the European Parliament in a bid to destabilise the EU for political gain."
Barry Andrews, Ireland's MEP in the Renew Group representing Fianna Fáil, called those behind the vote "fascists and neo-fascists", adding that he has "confidence in von der Leyen's management of the pandemic".
He will, however, abstain because of the president's "utter silence on the ongoing genocide in Gaza".
Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, also from the Renew Group, will be voting against the motion to avoid "the collapse of the Union's leadership … at a critical moment," while adding that Ms von der Leyen must face "political scrutiny" over her "failing to hold Israel to account for its war crimes in Gaza".
Aodhan O'Riordan, Labour Party MEP in the group of Socialists and Democrats, called the motion a "fascist stunt," though he didn't vote for the President to be re-elected last year and will abstain.
Sinn Féin MEP's Lynn Boylan and Kathleen Funchion said they will be voting to censure Ursula von der Leyen for "refusing to pass sanctions or suspend trade with Israel" and for "militarising the EU."
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