Brussels, 3 July 2025 (dpa/MIA) - The European Commission under President Ursula von der Leyen is to face a vote of no confidence in the European Parliament next week.

Parliament President Roberta Metsola informed the parliamentary group leaders of the development on Wednesday evening, dpa learned.

The motion of censure was brought forward by Romanian right-wing EU lawmaker Gheorghe Piperea.

The two-page document accuses the commission of a lack of transparency and mismanagement, particularly with regard to the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The motion needed the backing of one-tenth of EU lawmakers, or at least 72 signatories, in order to be debated and voted on during next week's plenary session in Strasbourg, France.

According to current plans, the debate is scheduled to take place on Monday evening, followed by a vote on Thursday.

If passed, the commission would have to resign as a whole with its president and 26 EU commissioners.

Such a scenario is considered unlikely, however, as it would require a double majority consisting of two-thirds of votes cast and representing a majority of the parliament's 720 seats.

At an investiture vote following last year's European elections, von der Leyen's commission was approved by 370 out of 688 votes cast.

The tabled motion accuses the commission of refusing to provide information on alleged text messages between von der Leyen and the head of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

An EU court recently ruled in this case that the commission has not yet provided sufficient legal justification for withholding the information.

As reported by the New York Times, personal contact between von der Leyen and Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla was crucial to strike a deal for the EU's multi-billion euro vaccine purchases at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

There is also criticism about coronavirus vaccines worth around €4 billion ($4.7 billion) remaining unused.

According to the parliament's research service, nine motions of censure have been tabled since the first direct election of the EU legislature in 1979.

The last motion targeted von der Leyen's predecessor, Jean-Claude Juncker, in 2014. It was rejected by a large margin. Only 101 EU lawmakers backed the motion, mainly eurosceptics, while 461 rejected it and 88 abstained.

The vote had been prompted by revelations about tax advantages for major international corporations in Luxembourg. Juncker had been prime minister of Luxembourg for almost 19 years before helming the commission in Brussels.

In 1999, the commission under Jacques Santer resigned to prevent a vote of no confidence which was expected to succeed, amid accusations of fraud, mismanagement and nepotism.

Photo: MIA archive