Ursula von der Leyen has survived two no-confidence motions in the European Parliament, tightening her position at the head of the European Commission three months after a previous censure attempt.
The chamber rejected a motion brought by the far-right Patriots for Europe and a separate text from The Left, each of which sought to force the resignation of the College. The far-right motion fell by 378 votes to 179, while the left-wing motion was defeated by 383 to 133. Both tallies placed the result well beyond the two-thirds supermajority that would have been required to topple the Commission under Parliament’s rules.
Thursday’s outcome in Strasbourg followed a joint debate earlier in the week and mirrored expectations that the pro-European centre of the hemicycle would close ranks. The threshold for adoption of a motion of censure is unusually high: it demands both two-thirds of votes cast and a majority of all Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). With 719 seats currently filled, any successful bid would therefore need at least 360 votes in favour—numbers that have proved elusive without defections from the mainstream blocs.
The Patriots for Europe motion focused on criticism of the Commission’s environmental agenda and recent trade understandings with the United States and Mercosur countries, alongside complaints over migration management and transparency. The Left’s text overlapped on trade but added condemnation of what it described as failures to address the climate and social crises and criticism of the EU stance on the Israel–Hamas war. Although the initiatives came from opposite ends of the political spectrum, each fell short of building the cross-bench coalition needed to meet the supermajority bar.
Vote discipline among the “centrist coalition” was decisive. The European People’s Party (EPP), Socialists & Democrats (S&D) and Renew Europe—together numbering just under 400 MEPs—opposed both motions, replicating the pattern seen in July when the chamber last considered censure. While individual defections or abstentions occurred within some groups, the aggregate effect maintained a working majority for the Commission President.
On the Parliament’s right, the initiating Patriots for Europe backed their own text and signalled willingness to support The Left’s motion despite disagreements over its language on Gaza. The European Conservatives and Reformists allowed a free vote among national delegations, producing a split similar to that observed in July. The smaller Europe of Sovereign Nations group largely supported the censure attempts. On the left, The Greens/EFA opposed both motions, though a handful of members had co-signed The Left’s initiative. These cross-currents underscored the limits of ad-hoc alignments when a supermajority is required.
For von der Leyen, the figures will be read against July’s benchmark, when a single motion was rejected by 360 votes to 175. Today’s margins—378–179 on the far-right motion and 383–133 on The Left’s—indicate a modestly firmer line of resistance to censure, despite continued criticism from both flanks. The comparison suggests that, while opposition remains vocal, the core arithmetic sustaining the Commission has not eroded and may have marginally strengthened.
Politically, the result stabilises the Commission’s immediate standing but leaves intact the pressures that produced the challenge. The issues cited by the two groups—trade with Mercosur and the United States, the scope and pace of the Green Deal, migration management, and the EU’s approach to the Middle East—are all files that will return to the plenary in legislative or oversight form. The Commission’s capacity to navigate them will depend on continued cohesion among the EPP, S&D and Renew, and on selective support from the Greens and parts of the ECR when dossiers require broader consensus.
Procedurally, the twin votes underline the resilience of the Treaty mechanism. Censure is designed as an exceptional remedy and has never succeeded in the modern Parliament without a triggering scandal that pierces the centrist bloc. The difficulty of assembling a two-thirds majority across a fragmented chamber offers the Commission a buffer, but not immunity: further attempts remain possible so long as discontent on specific policy fronts persists. Thursday’s tallies, however, show that the numbers required to remove the College remain out of reach for its opponents.
Attention now turns to how group leaders interpret the margins. For the Commission, higher “against” totals than in July provide breathing space on forthcoming negotiations. For the opposition, today’s votes offer a headcount of like-minded MEPs on contested files and a platform to test leverage case by case. With the legislative calendar crowded and coalition politics fluid, the practical consequence of the defeat for both motions is continuity: von der Leyen and her team remain in office, and the balance of power in the chamber is unchanged—for now.
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