The group has collected enough signatures, with the help of some Greens and non-attached MEPs. Von der Leyen now faces two confidence votes in October.
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The European Parliament's Left group launched its own no-confidence motion against the European Commission on Thursday in parallel to one put forward on Wednesday by the far-right Patriots for Europe group.
The leftist group attained the 72 signatures (one tenth of the Parliament’s members) needed to kick off the process with its own 46 MEPs plus MEPs from the Greens/EFA group - mostly Spanish and Italians - and from non-affiliated parties, like Germany’s radical left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance. One MEP from the Socialists and Democrats, Ireland’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, has also signed the motion.
The motion of censure is designed to trigger the resignation of the College of Commissioners and focuses on two key beefs with the executive: the trade strategy of the European Commission and its position on the war in Gaza.
The Left deems the recent EU-US trade deal “prejudicial, asymmetrical, non reciprocal” and “undertaken without a democratic mandate”. The EU-Mercosur deal is also heavily criticised by the leftist group.
“There is a tendency within the European Commission to push things through by force. The [trade] agreement with the United States, which will literally reduce the EU to a Donald Trump vassal. Or the free trade agreement with Mercosur, which will only kill European agriculture,” Manon Aubry, co-president of the Left group, told Euronews on Thursday.
On the Gaza war, the 72 MEPs attacked the “Commission’s failure to act”, while calling for “the immediate suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement, the imposition of sanctions on Israel, and a comprehensive arms embargo."
“The EU has closed its eyes in front of one of the worst catastrophes of our century, with more than 60,000 dead,” Aubry said.
The motion of censure also condemns “the Commission’s failure to address both the climate and the social crisis across Europe”. For all these reasons, the signing MEPs conclude that Ursula von der Leyen and her commissioners should resign.
European Commission to face two crucial votes in a row
Under the Parliament's rules, any motion of censure submitted has first to be verified by legal services. Following a check on the signatures by the legal department, the Parliament’s president, Roberta Metsola must immediately inform lawmakers, and a plenary debate on the request for resignation must be scheduled at least 24 hours after the announcement.
The vote that can trigger the resignation of the European Commission must take place at least 48 hours after the debate.
As this no-confidence motion was presented within hours of that posted by the far-right group Patriots for Europe, the Parliament will likely debate and vote on both motions at the beginning of October. It will be the first time in the history of the chamber that two attempts to topple the Commission are heard in the same week.
Internal Parliament sources told Euronews that while no motion of censure tabled by one tenth of the MEPs can be presented if another has been voted on in the preceding two months, nothing prevents two separate motions from being presented simultaneously.
The matter was discussed by the Conference of Presidents, a body that includes all the Parliament’s political groups’ leaders, on Thursday, according to internal sources.
Will the Left and far-right support each other’s motions?
At least two-thirds of votes cast, representing a majority of all MEPs, are needed for a motion of confidence to pass and forcing the resignation of the Commission.
This high threshold makes any motion of censure unlikely to succeed. In July, the European Parliament rejected a motion tabled by some Conservative MEPs, with 175 MEPs in favour, 360 against, and 18 abstentions.
As a broad support would be needed to topple the Commission, radical left and far-right would probably need to join forces to have any chance of succeeding.
But the Left’s co-presidents Manon Aubry and Martin Schirdewan made clear during a press conference on Thursday that their group will not support the Patriots’ motion, despite both wings being critical of the Commission’s trade policy.
The Patriots for Europe president, Jordan Bardella, did not rule out voting for the Left’s motion during a press conference on Wednesday in Strasbourg's Parliament.
“I hate sectarianism,” he said, explaining that his party - the National Rally - has no problem in voting texts coming from other political families, if it agrees on the content.
It remains to be seen if the far-right will fold behind the Left's criticism of the Commission's stance on the war in Gaza, however.