By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief
BRUSSELS/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – The president of the European Union’s executive European Commission has survived a no-confidence vote, but the motion of censure left questions over legislative support for her agenda, ranging from climate initiatives to the rearming of Europe.
If Ursula von der Leyen had lost the vote, the entire Commission would have been required to resign under EU rules.
Yet the motion failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to pass, with only 175 members of Parliament backing it, while 360 voted against and 18 abstained.
Romanian nationalist Gheorghe Piperea, the lead sponsor of the motion, criticized, among other things, the Commission’s refusal to disclose text messages between von der Leyen and the chief executive of vaccine maker Pfizer during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The decision-making has become opaque and discretionary, and raises fears of abuse and corruption. The cost of obsessive bureaucracy of the European Union, such as [efforts to tackle] climate change, has been a huge one,” Piperea told Parliament on Monday.
During the debate on her leadership, von der Leyen defended her record, rejecting criticism of her management of the pandemic and asserting that her approach ensured equal vaccine access across the EU.
Although the censure motion had little chance of success, it was a political headache for von der Leyen as her Commission negotiates with U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s administration to try to prevent steep U.S. tariffs on EU goods.
It was the first time since 2014 that a Commission president faced such a motion. Then-President Jean-Claude Juncker also survived the vote.
The Socialists and Democrats voted against the no-confidence motion in exchange for a pledge on the next long-term budget — a promise that will be tested next week when the Commission’s proposal is due to be published.
The right-wing groups Patriots for Europe — inspired by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — and Europe of Sovereign Nations, along with many members of the European Conservatives and Reformists and a few delegations from the Left, voted to censure her.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
The U.S. economy surged past forecasts in the second quarter of 2025, growing at a robust 3% annualized rate, according to new data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The figure marks the strongest performance since Q3 2024, when GDP rose 3.1%, and significantly exceeds Wall Street’s consensus estimate of 2.5%.
One of the strongest earthquakes ever measured struck off the eastern coast of Russia on Wednesday local time, triggering tsunami warnings on the entire U.S. West Coast, Hawaii, southern Alaska, and British Columbia, as well as parts of Japan, Chile, Ecuador, and the Solomon Islands.
Kidnappers in Nigeria have killed at least 35 people they abducted from a village in the country’s northwestern Zamfara state despite ransoms being paid for their release, officials said Tuesday.
In a groundbreaking shift that could reshape the future of the Middle East, several Arab nations–including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt–joined Western allies Tuesday in calling for Hamas to disarm and relinquish its control over the Gaza Strip. The joint declaration, signed by 17 countries along with the European Union and the Arab League, marks a historic rebuke of the terror group by regional powers that have previously maintained more cautious stances.
The timeline for dismantling Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has suffered a major setback, as the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) announced Tuesday that full-scale removal of melted nuclear fuel debris will be delayed until at least 2037—several years later than initially planned.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump said he would give Russia 10 more days “from today” to reach a truce with Ukraine, after scores of people were reported killed and injured overnight in massive Russian air strikes on numerous Ukrainian cities and villages.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday that Britain would formally recognize a Palestinian state by September, if Israel does not stop its war against Hamas in Gaza in a move that was due to anger Israeli politicians.