The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, listened to the views of the political groups in the European Parliament on the motion of censure submitted by Romanian MEP Gheorghe Piperea (ECR). With the support of her Group – the EPP – and the assurance that the pro-European groups would vote against the motion, she defended her record tooth and nail.
Mrs von der Leyen referred in particular to her management of the Covid-19 vaccine contracts, which were particularly targeted by the motion of censure. “There were no secrets, no hidden clauses, no obligations to buy for Member States. Indeed, all 27 Member States decided to buy their vaccines on their own will”, she insisted.
She denounced attempts at destabilisation by “extremists and conspiracists”, who she said were supported by “our enemies and by their puppet masters in Russia or elsewhere”.
She was echoed by the leader of the Christian Democrat EPP Group, Germany’s Manfred Weber, who guaranteed that his Group would vote against the motion. “I know that the German AfD and the Romanian AUR are Putin’s puppets. But why is the PiS now joining this pro-Russian alliance?”, he asked.
The S&D Group will also not be supporting the motion of censure during the vote on Thursday 10 July, according to its Chairwoman, Iratxe García Pérez from Spain. “We are not going to offer a single voice to those who want to destroy the European Union”, she asserted.
The leader of the Renew Europe Group, France’s Valérie Hayer, denounced the motion and reiterated that none of the members of her Group supported it. She gave no indication of how her colleagues would vote on Thursday, but pleaded for the stability of the institutions.
As for the Chairman of the conservative ECR Group, Nicola Procaccini, he found himself in an uncomfortable position. He denounced the motion of censure submitted by members of his own Group. “I am speaking on behalf of the two-thirds of the ECR Group who did not sign the motion. Not that they didn’t share the reasons, but like me, they believe that the motion is a mistake”, he explained. He sees it as a gift to the EU’s political opponents.
By contrast, the extreme right-wing groups PfE and ENS defended the motion and attacked the ‘von der Leyen II’ Commission’s record head-on. Through Fabrice Leggeri, PfE denounced an abuse of power by the President of the Commission, attacking her over the management of Covid-19 vaccines. “Europe deserves better than silence, opacity and authoritarianism”, he said.
Positioning inquiries within the ‘von der Leyen majority’. The debate provided an opportunity for the leaders of the pro-European majority political groups to express their frustrations with the Christian Democrats and their demands of the Commission, at a time when the majority that elected the ‘von der Leyen II’ Commission has been weakened.
“It would be good if the far right, but especially the EPP, stopped blocking the establishment of the ethics body”, demanded Mrs Hayer (see EUROPE 13640/25). Like the leaders of the S&D and Greens/EFA Groups, she also referred to the deadlock on the directive governing green claims, after the Commission threatened to withdraw the text at the request of the Christian Democrats, conservatives and far right in Parliament, before retracting (see EUROPE 13665/11).
Manfred Weber was a particular target. Iratxe Garcia Pérez and the Co-Chair of the Greens/EFA, Dutchman Bas Eickhout, criticised him for not renouncing certain alliances with the conservatives, some of whom want to bring down the ‘von der Leyen II’ Commission, and the far right. “When you talk about new majorities on the right, which majority are you talking about? There can be no right-wing majority without the far right”, said Mr Eickhout.
The German Christian Democrat refuted these accusations. “As the EPP, we have a clear red line against extremists from left and right. (...) Tusk against Kaczyński, Péter Magyar against Orbán; in the Czech Republic, together with Fiala, the EPP will win against Babiš. We are often the only chance of fighting the authoritarian wave”, he retorted, saying he had no lessons to learn in the fight against populists and extremists.
Mr Weber defended his Group’s votes since July 2024, trying to put his Group’s alliances with the far right into perspective. “For 90% of the votes, we voted in concert with the pro-European platform. Yes, in around 3% of all final votes the EPP won with the support of the ECR and PfE. But we had more than 7% of final votes where the Socialists won with the support of the PfE, against the EPP” (see EUROPE 13672/21). (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)