How radicals are trying to topple EU authority and why Ursula von der Leyen faces the risk of dismissal
One of the European Parliament’s powers that ensures its influence within the EU structure is the right to express no confidence in the European Commission and force the resignation of the entire body, including its president. MEPs though rarely used this mechanism until recently.
But 2025 has opened a new era on this front.
On 10 July, the Commission already survived a vote of no confidence, and this week there will be two more attempts to remove Ursula von der Leyen.
And it seems they will not be the last.
Read more about who is trying to topple the European Commission and whether they stand a chance in the article by Tetiana Vysotska, a European Pravda correspondent (from Strasbourg): Orbán and the communists against Ursula von der Leyen: can they take down the pro-Ukrainian head of the Commission?
It should be noted right away: dismissing the European Commission is no easy task. For a no-confidence vote to succeed, at least 361 MEPs must support it (the European Parliament currently has 720 members).
And even if supporters of regime change in the EU managed to gather such numbers, their opponents could simply show up and vote "no" or abstain, which would raise the threshold further. Securing two-thirds of the votes requires "ironclad" grounds.
Von der Leyen’s opponents in the current Parliament do not have that level of support; her allies, on the other hand, are numerous.
Therefore, the outcome of the 9 October vote can be predicted with some certainty: this time Ursula will withstand it.
But this will certainly not be the last attempt to remove her, since initiating a no-confidence motion is relatively easy.
While mainstream parties are willing to make concessions to preserve the Commission’s stability – even without fully supporting it – among those pushing for dismissal there is no such unity.
It is no coincidence that on 9 October, the European Parliament will vote on two no-confidence motions simultaneously. The reason is that their sponsors represent opposite ends of the political spectrum: the far-left and the far-right.
Although radical parties, even combined, stand no real chance of bringing down the Commission, what will matter is how many votes they gather and how many MEPs vote "against." This will indicate how attitudes toward Ursula von der Leyen are shifting in the European Parliament. In the previous vote in July, 175 MEPs supported the Commission’s dismissal, 360 voted against, and 18 abstained.
The July no-confidence attempt was based on criticism of von der Leyen’s refusal to disclose her private SMS exchanges with Pfizer’s CEO in 2021, before the EU’s vaccine procurement deal.
This time, both the far-left and far-right stress, among other things, the lack of transparency in the EU’s major trade agreements with the United States and Latin American states (MERCOSUR), as well as the exclusion of other EU institutions from that process. This is a major part of the justification behind both motions.
But their other accusations against von der Leyen differ significantly.
The Patriots for Europe criticise the Commission’s "flawed environmental policy" and raise concerns over migration risks.
The Left, in turn, point to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza (the EU has not suspended its Association Agreement with Israel nor imposed sanctions), as well as "erosion of social rights and a housing crisis across the EU."
On the evening of Monday, 6 October, during lengthy debates, Ursula von der Leyen stressed that division within the EU plays into the hands of the Kremlin’s ruler, Putin.
"This is a trap, and we must not fall for it. We stand united," von der Leyen declared confidently.
The votes on the no-confidence motions (or more precisely, against them), scheduled for Thursday, are expected to provide strong proof that unity truly prevails in the EU. Nevertheless, populists and radicals in the current Parliament remain strong enough to continually cast doubt on that unity.