Far-right group Patriots for Europe will present a motion of no confidence against Ursula von der Leyen's Commission, disputing the signature of the EU-Mercosur trade deal – but their chances of success are practically none.
The far-right group Patriots for Europe (PfE) will table a motion of no confidence against Ursula von der Leyen's Commission as soon as this week, several sources from the group told Euronews.
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The text is in preparation and could be finalised at the group's bureau meeting on Tuesday in Brussels, according to party sources. PfE will table the motion in retaliation for the signature of the Mercosur trade deal, which was approved by member states last week and is expected to be sealed at a formal ceremony on January 17.
Jordan Bardella, who chairs the group and leads the French National Rally delegation, has accused Brussels and Paris of going against the interests of European farmers.
He first envisageda confidence vote last week when the trade agreement was approved by the EU member states, paving the way for its completion after more than 20 years of negotiations.
The vote at the European Parliament will be paired with a separate motion of no confidence tabled by the National Rally at the French Parliament.
In a previous motion tabled in Brussels last October, the PfE argued that the Commission had ignored “strong and repeated opposition from several national parliaments, from the European Parliament and from European farmers" in its pursuit of the Mercosur deal, which is particularly disliked in France.
Similar language is expected to be included in the new text this week.
PfE's goal is to have the motion ready for a vote during the next plenary session in Strasbourg, which is scheduled to take place between January 19-22.
The text could also include a reference to "von der Leyen's governing style", accusing the president of running a Commission overly centralised around herself, a PfE MEP told Euronews, although the exact wording is being finalised.
According to parliamentary sources, the schedule is tight, and the group is looking to speed up the procedure. It will need 72 signatures to go ahead with the vote, which should not be an issue as PfE has 85 MEPs in its ranks.
Still, the signatures will have to be certified by the Parliament’s internal services, and the text of the motion of censure will have to go through a process of validation, which usually requires several days to approve.
Assuming that is achieved, the vote would likely be postponed to the next plenary session, which is scheduled for February 9-12.
A game of optics
If the vote goes ahead, it would be the fourth attempt to topple von der Leyen’s Commission launched in the European Parliament during this legislature.
The previous three votes were all held in 2024. None of them came close to overthrowing von der Leyen, but they did help create a negative mood around her second mandate.
A motion of censure can be tabled if one in 10 members of the Parliament support the request. Should it be passed, it would in theory force the entire Commission to resign.
However, passage requires at least two-thirds of the votes cast in the European Parliament, representing a majority of all sitting MEPs – a high threshold that is practically impossible to reach if the major groups, such as von der Leyen's supportive EPP, vote against the motion or abstain.
The vote of no confidence tabled by PfE in October resulted in 378 votes against, 179 in favour, and 37 abstentions, with centrist forces uniting to back von der Leyen’s presidency.