Von der Leyen attacks far right over no-confidence motion

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday rejected allegations included in an upcoming no-confidence motion against her in the European Parliament.

The no-confidence motion was initiated by a far-right Romanian lawmaker. Von der Leyen and her team are accused of a lack of transparency and mismanagement, particularly concerning Covid-19 policy.

Regarding accusations about unpublished text messages during the coronavirus crisis, she said she had never made a secret of the fact that she was in contact with senior representatives of vaccine manufacturers at the time.

She said that claiming these contacts were inappropriate or even against European interests was simply false.

There were no secrets, no hidden clauses, and no obligation for individual member states to place orders, she stressed. She said that such claims were lies.

In response to criticism that she planned a multibillion-euro loan programme for defence investments as an emergency measure without parliamentary involvement, von der Leyen said this was exactly what she had promised in her political guidelines. She said she would seek feedback from parliament for every further step along the way.

"I want to say that I hear your concerns loud and clear. I will always be ready to be open about our work and find common solutions with pro-European, pro-democratic forces in this house," she said.