Allies of Ursula von der Leyen in the European Parliament said they will support her in the two no-confidence votes on her presidency of the European Commission next week.
The liberal group Renew Europe and the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) confirmed they would not support the proposals or use them to put pressure on von der Leyen to win political concessions.
Recall that the proposals were tabled by the left and the far-right Patriots for Europe.
Von der Leyen had also been the subject of a motion of no confidence in July, the first time since 2014 for Commission president.
The two groups’ support for the commission president, as Politico notes, signals a markedly better mood toward the president compared with the last vote, when both continued to lobby until the last minute in hopes of extracting concessions.
However, given the widespread dissatisfaction against the president, in the future the groups may withdraw their support. Some liberal MEPs even argued that their group should remain open to the possibility of supporting a motion of censure against von der Leyen in the future if the Commission president does not meet their demands.
The two groups, Politico continues, are dissatisfied with the commission president’s negotiations on trade deals with the US and with the Mercosur group of Latin American countries. Other points of friction include her concessions on green policy and the fact that she has only recently taken a tougher stance on Israel over the war in Gaza.
She is also accused of pushing her own priorities with EU countries and ignoring the will of Parliament.
Yet all acknowledge that removing von der Leyen would throw the EU into an unprecedented crisis, with no guarantee that her successor would be more useful to their cause.
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