The motion’s proponents argued that von der Leyen and her team of commissioners should be dismissed over their handling of the EU–Mercosur trade deal, which they claim undermines European farmers by opening up the European market to unfair competition.
Three similar motions had already been defeated over the past seven months. The threshold needed to trigger a motion of censure debate and vote — 72 out of 720 — has prompted repeated attempts to bring the Commission down.
Monday’s censure debate ahead of the vote took place in an almost empty chamber, with lawmakers boycotting in protest against the repeated attempts by the far right and far left to topple the EU executive. Even the chair of the Patriots group, Jordan Bardella, missed the event.
“How many times do we need to vote on hopeless censure motions until the extremists are satisfied or accept the democratic will?” asked Billy Kelleher, representing the Renew Europe group in the debate.