EU’s von der Leyen survives two no-confidence votes

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen comfortably survived two bids to remove her when the European Parliament rejected no-confidence motions from hard-right and left groups on Thursday.

EU lawmakers rejected the two motions of censure with 378 members of the 720-strong parliament expressing support for the von der Leyen and her team of commissioners in the first vote and 383 in the second.

The results were slightly better for the EU executive chief than in July, when 360 lawmakers voted against a motion brought by mainly far-right lawmakers, although the number is lower than the 401 votes von der Leyen received in July 2024, when re-elected as Commission president.

Although the motions of censure had almost no chance of reaching the two-thirds majority required to unseat her, some lawmakers said they could expose more general disquiet over her leadership and destabilise the EU assembly, whose backing is required to pass legislation.