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The far-right Patriots for Europe (PfE) has gathered enough signatures to launch a motion of censure against the European Commission, the group announced on Wednesday.
The motion, which could force the President and the Commissioners to resign, will be formally submitted to the European Parliament president “immediately”, the group’s first vice-president Kinga Gál told Euronews.
It has been signed by 85 MEPs, all the members of the group, exceeding the minimum threshold needed to kick off the process (72 signatures).
PfE President Jordan Bardella and first vice-president Kinga Gál made the announcement during a press conference in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, shortly after von der Leyen had completed her State of the Union address.
“This Commission and its President have failed on peace, on trade, on competitiveness, on migration,” Gál said, outlining reasons for tabling the motion.
At the core of this motion of censure stands the Commission’s trade policy, in particular the UE-Mercosur deal signed in December 2024 and the recent EU-US trade framework, a PfE note reads.
Once the signatures have been verified and validated by the Parliament’s services, the body’s president must immediately inform lawmakers, and a plenary debate on the request for resignation must be scheduled at least 24 hours after the announcement.
This motion of censure will therefore probably be debated and voted on in October. But it has little chance of actually succeeding in triggering the resignation of the College of Commissioners, for which at least two-thirds of the votes cast, representing a majority of all MEPs, are needed.
A similar motion, coming from far-right MEPs, was voted on in the Parliament in July, with only 175 MEPs in favour, far from reaching the minimum number.
The Left group is also very close to presenting its own motion of censure, according to internal sources, who say the minimum number of signatures has been reached, thanks to the participation of members from other political groups like Socialists and democrats or Greens/EFA, and especially from the non-attached MEPs.
The Left’s motion also criticises EU trade policy, but also the Commission’s failure to act against the Israeli Government for alleged violations of international and humanitarian law in Gaza, internal sources told Euronews.
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