European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen faces vote of no confidence: all the details of the incident

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is at the center of a major political scandal that could cost her her job. The reason is opaque negotiations with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer during the COVID-19 pandemic and multi-billion dollar vaccine contracts. Because of this, the European Parliament is preparing an initiative to express a vote of no confidence in the entire European Commission.

This is reported by the Financial Times .

According to journalists, back in 2021, Ursula von der Leyen personally negotiated the terms of a multi-billion dollar contract to supply vaccines to EU countries with Pfizer chairman Albert Bourla — and, as it turned out, did so via personal SMS messages . These correspondences were never made public, which caused a wave of indignation among deputies and the public.

The European Court of Justice has ruled that the European Commission violated the principles of transparency when it refused to publish the correspondence , despite a request from The New York Times, which filed a lawsuit.

One of the initiators of the no-confidence vote was Romanian far-right MEP Gheorghe Piperea. He said he had already collected a significant number of signatures to officially submit the motion. At least 72 signatures of deputies are needed for it to be considered.

At the same time, to remove von der Leyen from office, at least two-thirds of the votes of all those present at the plenary session of the European Parliament are required. There are a total of 720 deputies. In 2024, 401 of them voted for her re-election.

However , some of that support has since been lost due to political differences , including disputes over immigration, energy policy, and military support for Ukraine.

While experts say it is unlikely that von der Leyen will be removed from office, the very threat of a no-confidence vote seriously undermines her authority and her chances of uniting a majority in the European Parliament. It is expected that the European Commission President will have to make political concessions to both left and right forces to keep her job.

Also follow “Pryamim” on Facebook , Twitter , Telegram , and Instagram.