EU’s von der Leyen confronts new no-confidence challenges

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen faced bids to remove her for the second time in three months when hard-right and left groups in the European Parliament presented no-confidence motions on Monday.

Although the motions of censure have almost no chance of reaching the two-thirds majority required to unseat von der Leyen in votes on Thursday, they could expose more general disquiet over her leadership and destabilise the EU assembly, whose backing is required to pass legislation.

The motions were proposed on Monday by France's far right and hard left - Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally, and Manon Aubry of France Unbowed, who repeatedly said it was time for von der Leyen to leave.

Von der Leyen, with her team of commissioners behind her, told lawmakers the world was in its most precarious and perilous state in decades, pointing to incursions into EU airspace linked to Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin blaming Europe for his war in Ukraine.

"He is not hiding his glee and support for all of his obedient friends in Europe who are doing his work for him... This is a trap and we simply cannot fall for it," she said.

For von der Leyen this is not a new experience, having survived a no-confidence motion from mainly far-right lawmakers in July.

However, parties outside the mainstream have realised that previously seldom-used censure motions are easy to trigger after the 2024 elections swelled the far right to more than 100 lawmakers, with only 72 required to back one.

The two censure motions differ, the right's complaining about "misguided" green policies and a failure to address illegal migration, while the left's highlights the EU's inaction over Gaza.

However, both sides agree that von der Leyen accepted an unbalanced tariff deal with the United States and that the Commission's proposed EU-Mercosur trade deal is a threat to farmers and the environment.

Both the U.S. tariff deal and the Mercosur deal will be put to votes in the European Parliament in the coming months, with the outcomes unclear.