Challenged over her refusal to release her email exchange with Pfizer CEO, von der Leyen survives after 360 MEPs vote against motion, with 175 in favor and 18 abstaining
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen survived a no-confidence vote on Thursday that could have led to the collapse of the entire commission.
During the vote at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, 360 MEPs voted against the motion, 175 supported it, and 18 abstained, falling well short of the two-thirds majority required for it to pass.
The motion was brought forward by Romanian MEP Gheorghe Piperea of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, targeting von der Leyen over her refusal to disclose text messages exchanged with Albert Bourla, the CEO of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, during the EU's COVID-19 vaccine negotiations in 2021.
Piperea accused the commission of violating its own transparency rules and ignoring a ruling by the EU's General Court, which ordered the release of the messages. He condemned the commission's actions as an "abuse of power" and called for full transparency.
Addressing the parliament on Monday, von der Leyen dismissed the motion as "taken from the oldest playbook of extremists." She accused her critics of spreading conspiracy theories supported by foreign interests – an implicit reference to Russia.
