Von der Leyen survives censorship, but wipe out criticism

The motion of censorship targeting Ursula von der Leyen was widely rejected on Thursday in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, but the president of the Commission did not escape the criticisms of her left and center allies as to her method. Initiated by the extreme right, the attempted censorship was supported by 175 deputies – far from the required minimum of 361 votes – and repelled by 360 elected officials.

One year after the European elections, the episode made it possible to take stock of political balances in Strasbourg. Distributed in three groups, the extreme right has not unanimously censored the head of the executive. The Italians of the Party of Giorgia Meloni, more conciliatory with Ms. Von der Leyen, did not take part in the ballot. Within the radical left, a dozen MEPs supported the motion, but the majority of the group were absent to avoid being associated with a far -right initiative.

First force in the hemicycle, the right (PPE) has blocked around the president of the commission. “We are the stability factor of the European project. We have given the European Commission the strength it needs, “said the president of the conservative group Manfred Weber.

The hemicycle did not refuel, a sign of the little suspense around this initiative dedicated to failure, but also, perhaps, tensions in the so-called “proeuropian” camp. This attempted censorship had indeed gave rise to a restless debate in the hemicycle on Monday. Ursula von der Leyen had suffered criticism from the left and the center, which criticize him for too vertical management and accuse the PPE of cultivating ambiguity with the extreme right to better call into question environmental laws.

“Our support for Ursula von der Leyen is not acquired,” repeated the president of the centrist, Valérie Hayer on Thursday. “We are asking for the resumption in hand of his political family to stop the alliances with the extreme right”. By voting against censorship, the Social Democrats also meant “no to the far right and its destructive initiatives”, reacted their head of Iratxe Garcia Pérez. But “we demand a real commitment from the PPE in favor of a social, fair and green Europe,” she asked

It is a Romanian far -right MEP, Gheorghe Piperea (ECR), who initiated the censure motion to castigate in particular the lack of transparency of the commission’s head of the “Pfizergate”.