The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will face two new motions of censure in October, adding to the one she already faced in July, turning her second term into a period of unprecedented political instability within the Union.
The European Parliament has validated the necessary signatures and will decide on October 1 the date for the debate and the vote, which will occur during the Strasbourg plenary between the 6th and 9th.
Barely a year after being re-elected, Von der Leyen has already accumulated three motions of censure. If, in July, the first motion had already highlighted growing unease among the groups that supported her, the latest State of the Union address, in which she defended more centralization and an “irreversible” Union, had further deepened the fracture in the European Parliament.
Criticism comes from opposite ends of the chamber. The Left, with 72 signatures backed by some Greens and an Irish Social Democrat, criticizes the agreement with the United States to avoid Donald Trump’s massive tariffs, the pact with Mercosur, and what they call European inaction in the Gaza conflict. The group’s leader, Manon Aubry, claimed that these issues show the Commission out of touch with European citizens and too close to foreign interests.
For their part, the Patriots for Europe, who gathered 85 signatures, have accused Von der Leyen of making the EU “weaker than ever,” incapable of responding to economic and social decline. They also strongly criticize the betrayal of farmers, which directly affects the continent’s strategic independence.
Despite ideological differences between the groups behind the motions, both accuse the Commission of losing credibility. Each debate has highlighted growing divisions in the European Parliament and diminishing support for Von der Leyen, whose recent speeches have failed to reassure even former allies.
