EU chief von der Leyen faces a confidence vote. Hungary’s leader says she must go

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union lawmakers will hold a confidence vote Thursday on the head of the bloc’s powerful executive arm, Ursula von der Leyen, with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán leading calls for her to be ousted.

The censure motion, the first at the European Parliament in over a decade, was brought against the European Commission president by a group of hard-right lawmakers. To pass, it requires a two-thirds majority vote in favor.

Von der Leyen could be forced to resign if she loses, but she is virtually guaranteed to win as most of the political groups in the assembly have signaled they would vote against the motion. She is not expected to attend the vote in Strasbourg, France.

The motion contains a mix of allegations against von der Leyen including text messaging privately with the boss of COVID-19 vaccine maker Pfizer, misuse of EU funds and interference in elections in Germany and Romania.

Orbán said on Facebook that the vote “will be the moment of truth: on one side the imperial elite in Brussels, on the other patriots and common sense. There is no getting out of it, it is essential to make a choice.”

He posted: “Madam President, the essence of leadership is responsibility. Time to go!” Von der Leyen’s commission has frequently clashed with Orbán over his staunchly nationalist government’s moves to roll back democracy. The commission has frozen Hungary’s access to billions of euros in EU funds.

The vote has been a lightning rod for criticism of Von der Leyen — who led the EU drive to find vaccines for around 450 million citizens during the pandemic — and her 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 agenda. The EU parliament shifted perceptibly to the political right after Europe-wide elections a year ago.

The second biggest group, the Socialists and Democrats, has said that the censure motion was a result “of the EPP’s irresponsibility and the double games.”

During debate on Monday, S&D leader Iratxe García Pérez said to the EPP: “Who do you want to govern with? Do you want to govern with those that want to destroy Europe, or those of us who fight every day to build it?”

The EPP has notably worked with the hard right to fix the agenda for hearing von der Leyen’s new commissioners when they were questioned for their suitability for their posts last year, and to reject an ethics body meant to combat corruption.