Ursula von der Leyen faces confidence vote as alliance tension grows
Von der Leyen, a former German defence minister, is set to participate in a debate about her position on Monday evening, which will be followed by a rare vote of confidence on Thursday. The European Commission, the Brussels executive, could be brought down if at least two thirds of MEPs vote against her.
That scenario is extremely unlikely, as centrist MEPs are likely to back her, but unhappiness over her leadership will surface during the debate triggered by a motion of confidence tabled by Gheorghe Piperea, a hard-right Romanian MEP.
While they are also increasingly unhappy with von der Leyen, the Socialist, Green and Liberal representatives who helped to secure her majority after last summer's elections are unlikely to vote against her. However, according to parliamentary sources, she will be 'given a warning not to take MEPs for granted'.
Manfred Weber, the German Christian Democrat who leads the conservative European People's Party (EPP), the largest single group in the parliament, has accused supporters of the motion of being pro-Russian enemies of the European Union.
'Putin's puppets in the European parliament are trying to undermine Europe's unity and bring the commission down in times of global turmoil and economic crisis,' Weber said. 'It's a disgrace for the European people.'
Von der Leyen will bring her entire team of 27 commissioners, made up of people from all EU countries and the various parties in the assembly, to Strasbourg. It will serve as a reminder to MEPs that the whole EU executive is at stake in the vote and emphasise that she represents the centrist consensus.
The given reason for Piperea's motion against von der Leyen is secret text messages that she sent to Albert Bourla, the boss of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.
She has always refused to release the messages, which are now thought to have been deleted, despite widespread criticism, including by the EU courts. MEPs will demand answers from her.
More significantly, relations between von der Leyen and left-leaning MEPs have become strained over tough migration legislation that has relied on informal voting alliances between her EPP bloc and Eurosceptic populists or hard-right nationalists.
Fabienne Keller, a liberal French MEP, accused von der Leyen and the EPP bloc of having 'made a dirty deal with the far right' to crack down on illegal migration.
'The EPP is allying itself with the far right, to win files on migration, turning its back on the pro-European majority. It is shameful to ally oneself with those who are dismantling the EU,' she said last week.
Von der Leyen has also been accused of taking decisions after consulting only a small coterie of advisers, bypassing other commissioners as well as MEPs.
Last month, Michel Barnier, the former French prime minister and Brexit negotiator, said her executive was behaving like 'super-technocrats' with an 'authoritarian drift'.
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