Conservatives Submit No-Confidence Vote Against ‘Queen Ursula’

A member of the European Conservative and Reformist (ECR) group has officially submitted a motion of no-confidence in the European Parliament against the EU Commission and its president, Ursula von der Leyen—the first of its kind that ‘Queen Ursula’ will have to face since her initial appointment in 2019.

The motion was tabled by MEP Gheorghe Piperea (a member of the Romanian AUR party), who submitted the required number of signatures from colleagues to begin the process on Thursday, June 26th. The issue will be put on the table of the parliamentary group leaders during their meeting on July 2nd and put to a subsequent vote in the Strasbourg plenary between the 7th and 10th of July.

The required 72 signatures—one-tenth of the total number of seats in the EU Parliament—came primarily from the national conservative groups: the ECR, the Patriots, and the ESN. Only the latter supported it fully, while ECR’s largest delegation, Giorgia Meloni’s Italian ruling party, Fratelli d’Italia, was notably absent. What’s more interesting is that even some members of von der Leyen’s own EPP group signed the motion, signaling growing discontent among the most loyal soldiers of the ‘Queen.’

In his reasoning, Piperea cited “judicially confirmed” breaches of transparency (‘Pfizergate’); unlawful interference in national elections through biased social media censorship via the DSA; and the “misapplication” of the emergency clause to bypass the Parliament in order to fast-track the €150 billion joint loan-backed rearmament scheme, ‘SAFE,’ over which the Parliament is suing the Commission at the EU Court of Justice.

These gave way to “grave and substantiated concerns” regarding the Commission’s persistent failure to uphold core democratic principles of the EU. Piperea, a former law professor, stated in his press release that the Commission president has demonstrated  

a continued pattern of institutional overreach, democratic disregard, and erosion of public trust in the Union’s governance.

While the motion itself is a major step toward making the Commission accountable, the three conservative groups are not going to be enough for it to succeed. During July’s plenary vote, it will need at least two-thirds of the MEPs present and a minimum of 361 members voting in favor of bringing down the von der Leyen cabinet.

Although there’s much tension between the Commission and the leftist parties as well—most recently over an anti-greenwashing legislation that von der Leyen had withdrawn due to pressure from the EPP, which led to the socialist S&D, liberal Renew, and the Greens to threaten pulling their support—it’s still unlikely that they would join the right-wing initiative and undermine the ‘Ursula coalition,’ which is their only source of power.

“We are aware since the very beginning that the required two-thirds of votes necessary for the fall of the Commission will be impossible to secure,” a parliamentary advisor of the ECR group who was closely involved in tabling the motion told europeanconservative.com. “However, our goal is to send a signal and to bring to public attention the main issues concerning Ursula von der Leyen.”

Nonetheless, Piperea urged his fellow members not to approach the issue from a partisan standpoint, because holding the EU executive to fundamental democratic principles should be in the interest of all of Europe.

“This initiative is not driven by political ambition or personal grievance, nor does it target commissioners who carry out their responsibilities with integrity. This motion addresses serious governance failures, as outlined in the attached document,” the lawmaker wrote. 

I call upon all Members of the European Parliament, regardless of affiliation, to actively involve themselves in the plenary and stand in defense of transparency, legality, and democratic governance.

Even if it fails in the end, just raising awareness alone is a major success, as no-confidence motions against the EU Commission are incredibly rare. The last one was submitted more than ten years ago, when Britain’s UKIP and the French National Front—the predecessors of Reform and National Rally—unsuccessfully tried to topple the Juncker cabinet over Luxembourg’s tax-evasion schemes known as the ‘Lux-Leaks’ scandal in 2014.

Accordingly, von der Leyen never had to face such a vote against her, although not for the lack of MEPs trying. In 2022, the liberal Renew group attempted to bring a motion of no-confidence onto the floor—over the Commission not being tough enough on Poland’s previous right-wing government regarding its alleged rule of law violations—but failed to even gather the minimum amount of signatures to launch the process.

Therefore, this is the first time in nearly six years that von der Leyen could face real scrutiny from the Parliament. Even if without an imminent threat to her power, the fact that right-wing parties are able to put her on the stand is a sign of shifting times, and gives hope for Europeans that accountability in Brussels might be achievable in the future.