More than half of Czech MEPs supported a vote of no-confidence yesterday in European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. 11 of the 21 Czech MEPs voted in favour of the motion, and six were against.
Three MEPs from the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and Ondrej Kovarik from ANO did not take part in the vote, according to records.
Six MEPs from ANO, who are members of the far-right Patriots for Europe group, voted for the no-confidence motion, as did Filip Turek of the Motorists Party and Nikola Bartusek from Prisaha (both also Patriots for Europe).
Two non-attached MEPs, Ondrej Dostal and Katerina Konecna (Stacilo!), and Ivan David (SPD) from the far-right Europe of Sovereign Nations faction, also supported the motion.
In a joint statement before the vote, the ANO MEPs said that “the European Commission has lost touch with reality” and announced that they would “come up with another proposal” in September if the Commission chief does not change her approach.
“Ursula von der Leyen called the MEPs who signed the motion of no confidence extremists. This is a demonstration of her democracy in practice. She should not behave like this because she is supposed to be a priori apolitical,” said Klara Dostalova (ANO) before the vote.
Turek described the vote as “an opportunity to draw attention to the need for greater transparency and accountability in the European institutions”.
“As one of the initiators of the motion of no confidence in the European Commission under Ursula von der Leyen, I would like to clarify that my position is based on serious concerns about the transparency of this European Commission,” said Turek. “The Pfizergate case, where President von der Leyen refused to disclose communications with the CEO of Pfizer during negotiations on COVID-19 vaccines, raises doubts about the Commission’s openness.”
All five Czech MEPs from von der Leyen’s European People’s Party (EPP), the largest grouping in the parliament, voted against the motion. This included Ludek Niedermayer and Ondrej Kolar (TOP 09), Danuse Nerudova and Jan Farsky (STAN) and Tomas Zdechovsky (KDU-CSL).
Farsky and Niedermayer said after the vote that although they had reservations about the Commission’s work, a strong Europe was needed.
Pirate MEP Marketa Gregorova of the Greens also opposed the vote of no confidence. She said she had decided to support von der Leyen “after careful consideration”.
ODS MEPs, who are part of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, had already indicated they would not support the proposal, but criticised the EU executive. They did not take part in the vote.
“We are not satisfied with the Commission’s work so far,” the ODS MEPs said in their statement. “The Commission is not correcting the ideological and restrictive form of the Green Deal fast enough, is hesitating on many important decisions, and sometimes acts as if it does not even want our votes. This is also the case with the proposal to tighten climate targets in the form of a new milestone in 2040, which is totally unacceptable to us.”
The Commission must receive a clear warning, they added. “In agreement with a number of other national delegations within our European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, we have decided to be present at the vote but not to actively vote on the proposal on the table,” they added.
