The European Parliament could hold a debate next Tuesday, July 8th, followed by a vote on Thursday, July 10th, on the motion of no-confidence against European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, according to Euronews.
The motion, launched by Romanian MEP Gheorghe Piperea of the right-wing nationalist AUR party, has reportedly surpassed the threshold of 72 MEP signatures needed to trigger the process, and has collected 73 signatures in total.
The signatures came primarily from the national conservative groups: the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the Patriots for Europe (PfE), and the Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN).
The effort is largely driven by the Pfizergate scandal, stemming from von der Leyen’s refusal to release private text messages exchanged with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during COVID-19 vaccine negotiations. A recent European court ruling deemed this refusal a violation of transparency rules.
In his reasoning, Piperea also cited unlawful interference in national elections through biased social media censorship, and the “misapplication” of the emergency clause to bypass the Parliament in order to fast-track the €150 billion joint loan-backed rearmament scheme.
A two-thirds majority is required to topple the Commission, and von der Leyen retains support from the centre-right European People’s Party, the Socialists & Democrats, and liberal Renew. It is unlikely that they will join the right-wing initiative.
Still, next week’s proceedings are expected to put significant political pressure on von der Leyen’s leadership.
