At a plenary session of the European Parliament on Thursday 9 October, MEPs rejected the two motions of censure tabled against the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, by The Left and Patriots for Europe (PfE) groups. The Left’s proposal was rejected with 383 votes against, 133 in favour and 78 abstentions, while PfE’s proposal was rejected with 378 votes against, 179 in favour and 37 abstentions. Support for the President of the Commission has therefore widened somewhat compared to the motion put to the vote in July, which received 360 votes against, 175 in favour and 18 abstentions (see EUROPE 13678/1).
The Left’s motion. The far-left group was counting on the support of Green and Social Democrat MEPs, but only a handful of them voted in favour of the motion: two S&D MEPs and thirteen Greens/EFA. Four members of the Renew Europe group also supported The Left' s proposal.
On Tuesday, some French Greens told a small group of journalists - including Agence Europe – that they would support the motion, but “without any enthusiasm”, as they had not been convinced by the diatribes of the co-president of the radical left-wing group, Manon Aubry, during a debate in the European Parliament on Monday evening (see EUROPE 13724/1).
“We regret that the majority of the members of the Socialist and Green Groups did not support our motion of censure, at a time when the European Commission is in the process of dismantling or delaying essential legislation on human rights and the climate”, declared Ms Aubry on Thursday after the vote, but she felt that her proposal had sent “a strong message”.
Paradoxically, a good number of MEPs on the far right of the Chamber supported The Left’s motion.
PfE’smotion. The PfE’s proposal, put forward by Jordan Bardella (French), received broad support from MEPs sitting on the far right of the European hemicycle. Only a few MEPs from other political groups were among the 179 in favour.
They include four French members of the EPP group which is Ms von der Leyen’s own party: François-Xavier Bellamy, Laurent Castillo, Christophe Gomart and Céline Imart. Among the Renew Europe liberals, Engin Eroglu (German), Irena Joveva (Slovenian), Christine Singer (German) and Joachim Streit (German) also supported the motion, as did Maltese Social Democrat Daniel Attard (S&D).
Ms von der Leyen promises to work closely with the European Parliament. On Thursday, Ursula von der Leyen said she “deeply appreciated” the “strong support” shown in the European Parliament.
“The Commission will keep working closely with the European Parliament to tackle Europe’s challenges. And together deliver results for all European citizens”, she declared on the X network alongside the vote.
See the detailed results of the votes on the motion from The Left: https://aeur.eu/f/iuw
And the PfE’s motion: https://aeur.eu/f/iux (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)