European Union Chief Ursula Von Der Leyen is facing a no-confidence vote today that has a slim chance of succeeding, yet exposed frictions between her backers and the rising complaints about her style of leadership.
Von Der Leyen dismissed the no-confidence vote against her as a conspiracy theory-laden attempt to divide Europe.
This comes after the recent NATO summit in The Hague, where many bloc members expressed dissatisfaction over the NATO chief’s flattering of US President Donald Trump. European lawmakers will vote on the rare challenge pushed by the Far-right faction, which aspires to take control of the bloc from the European Commission president, at around midday (1000 GMT) in Strasbourg.
Despite rising dissent within the Bloc, Von Der Leyen called the no-confidence motion a conspiracy of the “Russian government and those who side with Russia” on the Ukraine war. She said the EU must show solidarity with Ukraine by staying united against the challenges posed by the United States' trade tariffs and the Russia-Ukraine War.
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A few members have alleged that their funds were illegally mobilised to Ukraine without their consent. The no-confidence motion was initiated by Romanian far-right lawmaker Gheorghe Piperea.
He accused Von Der Leyen of a lack of transparency over text messages she sent to the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer when negotiating Covid vaccines.
"Pfizergate" aside, Romania's Piperea accuses the commission of interfering in his country's recent presidential election, in which pro-European Nicusor Dan narrowly beat EU critic and nationalist George Simion.
Providing support to the no-confidence motion, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban, in his post on X, said, "Time to go." While sharing her photo alongside the post.
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