The no-confidence motion against Ursula von der Leyen's EU Commission has failed. In the vote in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, only 175 members of parliament voted in favor of the right-wing initiative. 360 rejected it and 18 abstained. A total of 553 of the 719 current parliamentarians voted. A successful no-confidence vote would require two-thirds of the votes cast - excluding abstentions - and at least 360 MEPs.
The no-confidence motion was tabled by 77 parliamentarians, including 15 German members of the AfD and politicians from the party of French right-wing populist Marine Le Pen. They accuse von der Leyen and her team of a lack of transparency and mismanagement - particularly regarding coronavirus policy. If the no-confidence motion had been passed, the EU Commission would have had to resign en masse.
During a debate on Monday evening, von der Leyen accused her critics of promoting conspiracy theories and not having their own answers to political problems. There is ample evidence that many extremist forces are supported by enemies, whether those who control the puppets in Russia or elsewhere, she said. For the German CDU politician, who belongs to the European People's Party family of parties, the right-wing initiative was a test of endurance, despite its slim prospects for success. The reason is that some of the 66-year-old's recent initiatives have caused discontent even among members of parliament who are otherwise well-disposed towards her.
Von der Leyen was not in Parliament during Thursday's vote. Instead, she attended a reconstruction conference on Ukraine in Rome. No-confidence motions against the Commission are extremely rare. The last time right-wing populists tabled a no-confidence motion against the then European Commission led by Jean-Claude Juncker was in 2014. (A2 Televizion)
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