European Parliament: Rights fail with suspicion of von der Leyen

The proposal of no confidence against Ursula von der Leyen’s EU Commission failed. When voting in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, only 175 MPs voted for the advance from the right warehouse. 360 rejected him, 18 abstained.

A total of 553 of the currently 719 parliamentarians voted. For a successful vote of no confidence, two thirds of the votes cast would have been necessary – without abstentions – but at least 360.

The 77 Parliamentarians, including the 15 German AfD MPs and politicians of the party of racial emblems from France’s right-wing populist Marine Le Pen. If the suspicion had been accepted, the EU Commission should have resigned.

In a pronunciation on Monday evening, the Leyen had held her right critics of heating conspiracies and having no answers to political problems themselves. There are plenty of evidence that many of the extreme powers would be supported by enemies, whether the string pullers are now sitting in Russia or elsewhere, she said.

Strain for von der Leyen

For the German CDU politician, who belongs to the European party family EVP, the advance from the right warehouse was a stress test despite the low prospects of success. The reason is that the 66-year-old, with some initiatives, finally caused displeasure with her.

The pronunciation in the plenary on Monday evening was also used by the Social Democrats and Liberals for accusations against von der Leyen and the Middle Rights alliance EVP. They criticized that the EPP had recently accepted several times that political projects were brought forward with voices from the right wing camp.

Partner parties criticize criticism

The S&D parliamentary group leader Iratxe García asked the EVP: “Who do you want to rule with? The liberal parliamentary group leader Valérie Hayer (Renew) said: “Today, Ms. President, you can see the dead end that you and your political family have gotten because you have approved that the EPP will enter into the extreme rights.”

The clear statements were explosive because the EVP actually has a kind of informal coalition with the European Social Democrats and Liberals. It is dependent on the votes of these parties if she wants to bring political projects through without votes from right wing.

Not present from the Leyen at the session

During the vote this Thursday, Leyen was not in parliament. Instead, she took part in the reconstruction conference for Ukraine in Rome. According to the German SPD politician René Repasi, the Leyen made concessions from the Leyen and, among other things, assured that money is also planned for the so-called European Social Fund (ESF) in the next long-term EU budget. The ESF is an instrument for employment funding and is intended to support training and qualification.

The last application for no confidence was submitted in 2014

Applications for no confidence against the Commission are extremely rare. Right populists recently failed in 2014 with a request for no confidence against the then EU Commission around Jean-Claude Juncker. When voting at the time, only 101 MPs voted for the advance from the EU-critical camp. 461 rejected him, 88 abstained.

The background to the suspension application was at the time revelations about tax advantages for large -scale corporations in Luxembourg. Juncker had been the head of the Grand Duchy for almost 19 years. Critics therefore accused him of “aid to tax evasion”.

To resign of an EU Commission, only a threatening successful suspicion in 1999 led. At that time, a commission led by the Luxembourg Jacques Santer made its posts available as a precaution after a report on fraud, mismanagement and nepotism.