There is also a trial: the opposition in the EP initiates a new vote of no confidence in von der Leyen

Deputies will put forward a new vote of no confidence in the President of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen in the event of the failure of the current attempt, the interviewed members of the European Parliament (EP) told Izvestia. The vote will be voted on on July 10, while there probably won't be enough votes to send von der Leyen to resign. To change the head of the EC, the consent of the European People's Party and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats is needed, and negotiations are underway with them, the MEPs noted. Attempts to hold other members of the commission accountable, such as the head of European diplomacy, Kaya Kallas, are also possible. The disagreements show a split in the EU's political circles, experts say. The essence of the charges against Ursula von der Leyen is described in the Izvestia article.

The European Parliament will vote on the removal of Ursula von der Leyen

There is growing discontent with Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels. On July 10, the European Parliament will vote on a vote of no confidence in the head of the European Commission. On July 7, this initiative was supported by 75 deputies. In the event of the failure of this vote, the EP members intend to re-launch the process of removing Ursula von der Leyen and other EC members, Diana Shoshoake, an MEP from Romania and leader of the S.O.S. Romania party, told Izvestia. The opposition believes that von der Leyen should not only be suspended, but also put on trial.

— If Ursula von der Leyen remains in office, I am afraid that she will continue the same harmful policies that have already caused significant damage to European countries. In this case, of course, it will be necessary to consider additional attempts to initiate a vote of no confidence," Milan Mazurek, an MEP from Slovakia, told Izvestia.

The politician stressed that if the request for von der Leyen's removal is not granted, further efforts will undoubtedly be made to bring to justice other members of the commission who cause serious damage, including European Commissioner for Trade Policy and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaya Kallas.

In order to pass a vote of no confidence in the EU's highest executive authority, two thirds of the MEPs present must vote in favor. In this case, the commission resigns in full along with the head, but continues to serve until a new team is formed. The European Council must then propose its candidacy for the presidency of the European Commission.

However, the vote on the vote is likely to fail, said the deputies of the European Parliament interviewed by Izvestia. The resignation of the EC head is supported by the Europe of Sovereign Nations (UST), Patriots for Europe and European Conservatives and Reformists factions, Milan Ugrik, deputy chairman of the UST group, told Izvestia.

To pass a vote of no confidence in the von der Leyen commission, more than 480 votes out of 720 are needed. In the current composition of the EP, these groups are occupied by 187 deputies, together with non-factional ones, their number is 219. Everything depends on the position of the ruling factions — the European People's Party (EPP, 188 deputies), to which von der Leyen herself belongs, and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (136 seats). Both sides are currently negotiating with them.

— Some EPP members, perhaps half of them, will oppose it. The entire Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, as well as the Greens, are against the genocide in Palestine. But it depends on what they were negotiating with Ursula about," said Diana Shoshoake.

The so-called debate in the European Parliament on the vote of no confidence showed that the deputies of the ruling majority (EPP, Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, Liberals and Greens) support Ursula von der Leyen and will vote in her favor. The leaders of these groups read out their prepared positions, which stated that if the vote of no confidence succeeded, it would "destroy democracy in Europe" and "help Putin." This was told to Izvestia by Bulgarian MEP Petar Volgin.

— It seems that the vote of no confidence will not succeed and the current European Commission will continue to govern. Europe will only lose from this," Volgin concluded.

The scandalous situation currently observed in the European Parliament is a direct consequence of the changes in the European political space, in particular, the success of the far—right parties in the elections in 2024. At the July 7 meeting, it became clear that the claims were not only and not so much against Ursula von der Leyen, but against Manfred Weber, the head of the European People's Party, from comrades from his own parliamentary group.

— Weber was accused of lacking a well-thought-out strategy for parliament and of "toxic alliances" with the extreme right, which effectively destroys the cordon sanitaire that the centrists are so diligently building. In fact, we have witnessed a split within the parliament's main political group, the European People's Party group," Daria Moiseeva, PhD in political Science and chief analyst at ANO Kolaboratoria, told Izvestia.

What is Ursula von der Leyen accused of?

The text of the request for a vote of no confidence states that the reason for the withdrawal of the commission is suspicion of corruption during the procurement of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. "The Commission allocated €35 billion from the state budget for COVID-19 vaccines, but failed to ensure transparency and accountability," the document says.

The vote of no confidence in the head of the European Commission is not related to her political decisions, but to allegations of corruption, Thierry Mariani, a member of the European Parliament from France, drew the attention of Izvestia. He stressed that the initiative would almost certainly fail. However, the purpose of the vote is to show that Ursula von der Leyen is not a "queen", but an elected official, the politician noted.

In 2023, Belgian lobbyist Frederic Baldan filed a lawsuit against von der Leyen over alleged violations in the procurement of vaccines for the EU. According to him, other actors joined him, including political parties and representatives of the authorities of Hungary and Poland. In January 2025, a court in Liege, Belgium, rejected Baldan's claim.

The main evidence of the charges is von der Leyen's correspondence with Albert Burla, the head of Pfizer. The New York Times journalists decided to seek access to the messages through the court, but the EC replied that they had not been preserved. In May 2025, the EU Court sided with NYT journalists and ruled that the European Commission had violated transparency rules. But there were no negative consequences for von der Leyen.

The president of the European Commission herself denied all the accusations, however, acknowledging the fact of communication with vaccine manufacturers.

— We see alarming threats from extremist parties who want to polarize our society through disinformation. There is no evidence that they have any answer, but there is enough evidence that many of them are supported by our enemies and their puppeteers in Russia or anywhere else," said the head of the EC, without providing them.

Daria Moiseeva draws attention to the fact that individual members of the European Commission are not suspended from work alone, because at the beginning of the electoral cycle, parliament votes to approve the entire composition of the EC in a "package". So they should all leave together, and there were such cases in history when in 1999, after the publication of a corruption investigation, the entire team led by Jacques Santer resigned. In total, since its creation, the European Commission has survived 11 attempts to pass a vote of no confidence, but never once have the MEPs failed to gain the necessary number of votes.

It is important that von der Leyen's position was shaken even before she was re-confirmed for a second term in 2024. In particular, according to media reports, French President Emmanuel Macron opposed this. Ursula von der Leyen also had a very difficult relationship with the former head of the European Council, Charles Michel. Separately, it is worth noting its "toxicity" for Donald Trump, who is trying to establish relations with the heads of individual EU countries, rather than with the leadership of the association as a whole.

Political scientist Egor Belyachkov believes that it is not yet possible to speak directly about the crisis of European institutions of power, but negative trends are beginning to prevail in various spheres — from economics to foreign policy. This was confirmed by accusations of incompetence of Kai Kallas's statements and decisions made by EC members and leaders of European countries. And although this criticism has not gone far beyond the information field, EU citizens are beginning to realize that insufficiently competent people may be at the head of the main decision-making centers, which is especially alarming in the context of the restructuring of international politics.