Cypriot MEPs split as von der Leyen survives fourth no-confidence vote

Cypriot members of the European Parliament were evenly split as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen survived a vote of no confidence for the fourth time in the last six months.

The motion had been tabled largely by MEPs from the far right, led by French firebrand Jordan Bardella, and was defeated with 165 votes in its favour and 165 against.

Of the Cypriots, Elam’s Geadis Geadi – who had been one of the motion’s co-sponsors – and independent Fidias Panayiotou, supported it.

Loucas Fourlas and Michalis Hadjipantela, both of Disy, voted against the motion, while Akel’s Giorgos Georgiou and Diko’s Costas Mavrides abstained.

The motion centred its complaints about von der Leyen and her commission around the matter of the trade deal between the European Union and South American trade bloc Mercosur, which was signed by her in Paraguay on Saturday.

That deal was sent to the European Court of Justice by MEPs on Wednesday, with Geadi, Georgiou, Mavrides, and Panayiotou all voting to request the court’s opinion, though Georgiou and Mavrides decided against voting to topple the whole commission the following day.

A no-confidence vote in the European Commission would require a two-thirds majority – 480 votes – to pass. If it had passed, von der Leyen and all 26 other commissioners, including Cyprus’ Costas Kadis, would have been required to resign.

Von der Leyen has faced three such motions in the last six months, with the most recent two having both taken place on the same day in October last year.

On that occasion, the first motion was put forward by MEPs from the far-right Patriots for Europe group, and won the support of 179 MEPs, but was handily voted down by 378 who offered their support for von der Leyen.

The six Cypriot MEPs split identically on that occasion to their votes on Thursday, though on the second motion, which was put forward by MEPs from The Left, the European grouping of which Akel is a member, they voted somewhat differently.

Georgiou had been one of the sponsors of that motion and as such voted in his favour. He was joined by Panayiotou in doing so, but Geadi, who had voted in favour of the first motion, chose to abstain from the second vote.

As with the first vote, Fourlas and Hadjipantela voted against the motion and Mavrides did not vote.

The second motion fared worse than the first overall, with only 133 MEPs voting in its favour and 383 voting against.