The European Parliament will discuss and vote on two votes of no confidence in European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during its plenary session on October 6-9.
This is stated in an internal letter from Parliament President Roberta Metsola, which was reviewed by Politico.
Two political groups — the far-right Patriots for Europe, which includes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and the Left — submitted separate motions of no confidence in the European Commission president on September 10. According to two officials, the Patriots submitted the document 20 seconds before the Left.
The Patriots accuse von der Leyen of a lack of transparency and accountability and criticize trade agreements with the US and Mercosur. The Left also criticizes the European Commissionʼs trade policy, but focuses more on what they say is the EUʼs inaction in the face of Israelʼs war in Gaza.
Politico writes that two votes of no confidence at the same time are a precedent that has sparked a discussion in parliament about how to organize two discussions and two votes.
As stated by the parliamentary spokeswoman Delfin Kolar, the final time for debates and votes will be determined by the leaders of the political groups during the formation of the agenda on October 1.
According to two Politico sources familiar with parliamentary procedure, the most likely option is a joint debate on October 6 and separate votes on October 9.
The Patriots will likely demand a first-ballot vote because they filed faster.
What preceded
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated that the no-confidence vote from the Patriots for Europe was a response to Ursula von der Leyenʼs "political speech, openly geared towards war" on September 10 in the European Parliament.
"She [Ursula von der Leyen] threatened everyone: whoever does not join the ʼBrussels herdʼ will have all EU money taken away," Orban wrote.
He added that the word "Ukraine" was used 35 times in Ursulaʼs speech and that she "must leave."
- The European Parliament on July 10 rejected a vote of no confidence in European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, leaving her in office. It was the first attempt at a no-confidence vote since 2014, when it was launched by Romanian far-right MP Gheorghiu Piperea over an incident surrounding the procurement of more than €35 billion in COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic.
- Previously, the EU court ruled against von der Leyen, ruling that she violated transparency rules when she refused to provide personal correspondence with the CEO of the American pharmaceutical company “Pfizer” Albert Burla about the supply of vaccines in 2021.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.