Fianna Fáil MEPs still to pick a side ahead of no-confidence motion in European Commission president

Irish Times

a day ago

Fianna Fáil MEPs have come under pressure for suggesting they might support a motion of no-confidence in
European Commission
president
Ursula von der Leyen
.
The no-confidence vote was tabled by a far-right Romanian MEP and 74 others, predominantly from right-wing populist and nationalist parties.
On Thursday, Members of the European Parliament will vote on the proposed motion of no-confidence in Ms von der Leyen, the head of the
EU
's executive arm that proposes laws.
The effort is widely expected to fall far short of the required two-thirds majority needed to censure the commission. If the motion was successful, it would likely force Ms von der Leyen and her team of EU commissioners, including former Fianna Fáil minister
Michael McGrath
, to resign.
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Fianna Fáil's four MEPs, Barry Andrews, Billy Kelleher, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú and Barry Cowen, have yet to declare what way they will vote. Fianna Fáil have been weighing up the possibility of supporting the motion or abstaining in the vote.
The no-confidence vote centres on the 'Pfizergate' controversy, where the commission faced criticism for refusing to release text messages exchanged between Ms von der Leyen and the chief executive of Pfizer, during negotiations to secure supplies of Covid-19 vaccines at the height of the pandemic.
Copies of the texts had been sought in access-to-information requests made by the New York Times, which later
took the commission to court
for blocking the release of the texts.
Speaking in the European Parliament on Monday, Ms von der Leyen said the motion was supported by extreme political movements, 'from anti-vaxxers to Putin apologists'.
Defending her role at the top of the EU executive during the pandemic, Ms von der Leyen said it was 'no secret' that she was in contact with senior figures in companies producing Covid-19 vaccines.
'Every single contract negotiated was examined in detail in the capitals before being signed by each of the 27 member states. There were no secrets, no hidden clauses,' she told a sitting of MEPs in Strasbourg.
'The implication that these contacts were somehow inappropriate or against the European interest is, by any measure, simply wrong.'
The motion was an attempt to spin 'debunked conspiracies' and try to rewrite the history of how Europe 'successfully overcame a global pandemic together', she said.
The EU executive needed to be in a strong position during ongoing tariff negotiations with the United States, the German politician said.
Sinn Féin's two MEPs, Lynn Boylan and Kathleen Funchion, said they would vote against Ms von der Leyen, due to the failure of the EU to hold Israel to account for its conduct during its invasion of Gaza, among other things.
Fine Gael's four MEPs will oppose the motion, which they said had been 'tabled by far-right members of the European Parliament in a bid to destabilise the EU for political gain'.
Iratxe García, a senior Spanish MEP who leads the centre-left Socialist and Democrats (S&D), the second largest grouping in the parliament, said its members would not support the motion, as it refused to work with the far right.
The motion has divided some right-wing populists, with hard right Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni's party opposing the effort to bring down the commission leadership.
Nicola Procaccini, an MEP from Ms Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, said the move was a mistake. 'This motion is doomed to fail and we know it, without even getting close to the level of votes needed,' he said.
The proposal was one 'big political show' from the far-right to undermine democracy, according to Bas Eickhout, the co-leader of the European Greens.