Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, is set to face a motion of censure in the European Parliament next Thursday (10/7/25). This will be the first time since 2014 that a Commission president has faced such a situation. At this stage, the vote is largely symbolic—the majority of political groups have already declared they will reject the motion—but it highlights growing anger toward her in Brussels after a series of controversial moves and scandals, according to Politico.
If passed, the motion would lead to the resignation of the entire Commission and trigger the complex process of appointing 27 new European Commissioners. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced the scheduling to political group leaders on Wednesday evening (2/7/25). The debate is scheduled for Monday, during which von der Leyen will appear. This will be followed by a discussion where political group leaders will express their views.
The motion was submitted by Romanian right-wing lawmaker Gheorghe Piperea after collecting enough signatures last week to express outrage over her secret messages from 2021 with Albert Bourla, CEO of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. These discussions concerned vaccine shipments to Europe at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Although some members of von der Leyen’s European People’s Party (EPP) and the right-wing ECR group withdrew their support under pressure from within their ranks, the motion still gathered the required 72 signatures to proceed. Despite recent political tensions—with Socialists and Liberals accusing von der Leyen of aligning with the far-right to weaken green reforms—the centrist EU majority that supported her presidency seems reluctant to back this move.