EU chief von der Leyen easily survives two more no confidence votes

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s top official comfortably survived on Thursday two more votes of no confidence, as an overwhelming number of EU lawmakers rejected censure motions against her.

In the votes on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, 378 lawmakers rejected a far-right censure motion, with 179 in favor and 37 abstaining. On a far-left motion, 383 lawmakers voted against, with 133 in support and 78 abstentions.

Von der Leyen has now survived three no confidence votes in a year since beginning her second 5-year term at the helm of the EU’s powerful executive branch. She is the first commission chief to face any such votes in more than a decade.

The commission proposes EU laws and supervises whether those that enter into force are respected. It also manages trade on behalf of the 27 member countries and is Europe’s top competition regulator.

The nationalist Patriots for Europe political group insists that migration “has exploded” under von der Leyen’s leadership and threatens “our identity and security.” Its members say she abandoned farmers and consumers, jeopardizing food safety with pro-environment policies.

The Left group blames her for “signing off on a number of detrimental trade deals” and failing “to act against the Israeli government’s systemic violations of international law in Gaza.”

But von der Leyen was backed by the big pro-European centrist groups during the votes in Strasbourg, France. They hold a majority in the assembly, and accuse the fringe groups from the left and right of the political spectrum of using the censure motions for political point-scoring.

But the votes have also been a lightning rod for criticism of von der Leyen — who led the EU drive to find vaccines for the citizens of all 27 countries during the pandemic — and her center-right European People’s Party, which is the largest political family in the assembly.

They’re accused of cozying up to the hard right to push through their political agenda.