A Romanian politician has claimed a no-confidence motion challenging Ursula von der Leyen signals the beginning of the end of the European Commission president. Eurosceptic MEP Gheorghe Piperea last week secured enough signatures from fellow MEPs to secure a vote of no confidence in Mrs von der Leyen.
If she were to lose the vote due to be held on Thursday, it would cause chaos in Brussels, with the EU’s executive branch forced to resign to make way for 27 new commissioners appointed at the end of a convoluted selection process. Mr Piperea, 55, who has acknowledged the votes will fall in Mrs von der Leyen’s favour, said he hopes the motion represents the beginning of the end.
A majority of political groupings have already suggested they will vote against the no-confidence motion, the first in a decade to be brought before the European Commission.
Mr Piperea filed the no-confidence motion after gaining 72 signatures from MEPs furious at secret texts between Mrs von der Leyen and Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s Chief Executive, about securing vaccines for Europe during the Covid pandemic.
EU judges ruled in May that the Commission should not have denied a New York Times journalist’s request to see the messages, finding the refusal broke transparency and good administration principles.
The MEP, who is Vice-Chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR), told the Telegraph he “succeeded in opening a Pandora’s box”. He added: “She is a leader with an obvious tendency towards totalitarianism.”
He accused the Commission of grabbing powers from EU member states and the European Parliament, pointing to Mrs von der Leyen’s creating a multi-billion pound loan scheme to boost Europe’s defence spending without involving MEPs.
Mrs Von der Leyen has insisted the Commission’s use of an emergency clause in the EU treaty to prevent MEPs from approving the £128bn (€150bn) loan for weapon procurement by EU countries was in response to “existential” challenges facing the continent.
An MEP since 2024, Mr Piperea said he was trying to “clean up” and “consolidate” democracy in the bloc. But he balked at the idea Romania could follow Britain and exit the EU, arguing instead that reform was needed from the inside.
While far-right MEPs support the no-confidence motion, socialists and liberals have “little appetite” to support the move, according to Politico.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni‘s Brothers of Italy party and Poland’s Law and Justice Party lead the EU’s conservative grouping.
However, the two parties are divided over the no-confidence motion. While Ms Meloni has been working with Mrs von der Leyen, the Italian PM’s pals in Poland have conspired against the Commission president.
Mrs von der Leyen’s own group, the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) has signalled it will vote against the motion.
The ECR grouping, to which Mr Piperea is allied, told Euractiv the no-confidence motion was not its initiative.
According to the same publication, the list of signatories counts politicians from the EPP, ECR, Patriots for Europe, the far-right Europe of Sovereign Nations group and a handful of members who aren’t allied to a particular grouping.
