EU's von der Leyen survives parliament confidence vote

By Bart H. Meijer and Charlotte Van Campenhout

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen survived a no-confidence vote in the European Parliament on Thursday, tabled by mainly far-right lawmakers who alleged she and her team undermined trust in the EU through unlawful actions.

As expected, the motion failed to get the two-thirds majority it needed to pass. Only 175 members of parliament backed the motion, while 360 voted against and 18 abstained.

Romanian nationalist Gheorghe Piperea, the lead sponsor of the motion, had criticised among other things the Commission's refusal to disclose text messages between von der Leyen and the chief executive of vaccine maker Pfizer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The decision-making has become opaque and discretionary, and raises fears of abuse and corruption. The cost of obsessive bureaucracy of the European Union such as (tackling) climate change has been a huge one," Piperea told the parliament on Monday.

During the debate on her leadership, von der Leyen defended her record in parliament, rejecting criticism of her management of the pandemic and asserting that her approach ensured equal vaccine access across the EU.

Although the censure motion had little chance of success, it was a political headache for von der Leyen as her Commission negotiates with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to try to prevent steep U.S. tariffs on EU goods.

It was the first time since 2014 that a Commission president has faced such a motion. Then President Jean-Claude Juncker also survived the vote.

(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Bart Meijer. Editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Mark Potter)

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