EU official Ursula von der Leyen comfortably survives a confidence vote
[July 10, 2025] By
LORNE COOK
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
comfortably survived a vote of no confidence on Thursday, as an
overwhelming number of European Union lawmakers rejected a censure
motion against her.
The motion contained a mix of allegations against von der Leyen,
including text messaging privately with the chief executive of vaccine
maker Pfizer during the COVID-19 pandemic, misuse of EU funds and
interference in elections in Germany and Romania.
The motion was defeated in a 360-175 vote against it, with 18 lawmakers
choosing to abstain during a plenary session at the European Parliament
in Strasbourg, France. Von der Leyen wasn't present for the vote.
The vote has been a lightning rod for criticism of Von der Leyen — who
led the EU drive to find vaccines for around 450 million citizens during
the pandemic — and her European People’s Party, or EPP, which is the
largest political family in the assembly.
They’re accused of cozying up to the hard right to push through their
agenda. The EU parliament shifted perceptibly to the political right
after Europe-wide elections a year ago.
“We won’t vote with the far-right and we do not support this motion.
This vote was little more than a far-right PR stunt from Putin-loving
populists," Greens group President Terry Reintke said in a statement
after the poll, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, she added: "We are ready to build pro-European majorities, but
we will not be played by the EPP in their desperate deregulation agenda
and their desire to consistently form anti-European majorities with the
far-right.”
The censure motion, the first at the European Parliament in over a
decade, was brought against the European Commission president by a group
of hard-right lawmakers.
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European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen delivers her
speech during a statement on the preparation for the EU–China
Summit, Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at the European Parliament in
Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Pascal Bastien)
 On the eve of the vote, Hungarian
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Facebook that it would “be the
moment of truth: on one side the imperial elite in Brussels, on the
other patriots and common sense. There is no getting out of it, it
is essential to make a choice.”
He posted: “Madam President, the essence of
leadership is responsibility. Time to go!” Von der Leyen's
commission has frequently clashed with Orbán over his staunchly
nationalist government's moves to roll back democracy. The European
Commission has frozen Hungary's access to billions of euros in EU
funds.
The second biggest group, the Socialists and Democrats, has said
that the censure motion was a result “of the EPP’s irresponsibility
and the double games.”
During debate on Monday, S&D leader Iratxe García Pérez said to the
EPP: “Who do you want to govern with? Do you want to govern with
those that want to destroy Europe, or those of us who fight every
day to build it?”
The EPP has notably worked with the hard right to fix the agenda for
hearing von der Leyen’s new commissioners when they were questioned
for their suitability for their posts last year, and to reject an
ethics body meant to combat corruption.
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