Three Fianna Fáil MEPs will not vote in favour of a motion to censure European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, but one will abstain.
The European Parliament will on Thursday vote on a motion which relates to Ms von der Leyen’s blocking of a freedom of information request for text messages she exchanged with the CEO of the Pfizer pharmaceutical company during the covid-19 pandemic.
The motion, proposed by a group of mainly far-right lawmakers in the European Parliament, is destined to fall far short of the two-thirds majority needed to force out Ms von der Leyen’s commission, as centrist groups that hold a majority in the parliament have said they will not support it.
The motion has been taken up by some European lawmakers as a referendum on the commission’s handling of the Gaza crisis.
There had been some speculation as to how the Fianna Fáil MEPs in the parliament would vote, with Dublin’s Barry Andrews confirming on Wednesday that he will abstain from the vote while colleagues Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, Barry Cowen and Billy Kelleher will vote against the censure.
Mr Andrews, who is the vice-president of the parliament’s delegation on Gaza, said in a statement that “abstaining is never a good option, but is sometimes the only option”.
Barry Andrews: ‘While this motion has no chance of passing, I will not add my vote to the tally which could endanger the commission now, including the good work of Commissioner McGrath and others.’ File photo: Sasko Lazarov/© RollingNews.ie
He added that the motion is “tabled by fascists, neo-fascists, Putin puppets and Netanyahu-supporting MEPs and cannot be supported”.
“I have confidence in President von der Leyen’s management of the pandemic and refuse to be associated with the anti-vaccine agenda behind the motion.
“While this motion has no chance of passing, I will not add my vote to the tally which could endanger the commission now, including the good work of Commissioner McGrath and others.”
However, he said that he could not vote against the motion as “President von der Leyen has been utterly silent on the ongoing genocide in Gaza, which we all can see with our own eyes” and “not once criticised blatant Israeli war crimes”.
He said that abstaining will not add to the vote numbers required for the motion to succeed or “undermine the stability of the EU at this crucial time”.
Ms Ní Mhurchú said that Ms von der Leyen is “rightly facing political scrutiny and pressure due to her actions and inactions during the course of her term of office”.
“Last year, I voted against her securing a second term as President of the European Commission, primarily due to, but not limited to, her actions and commentary since the barbaric October 7 Hamas attacks and Israel’s illegal, inhumane and ongoing war crimes in Gaza.
President von der Leyen has failed to hold Israel to account for its war crimes in Gaza. I have continually raised the fact that our continued preferential trade terms with Israel, and continued arms sales from EU countries to Israel, are in contravention of EU legal obligations and values.
However, she said that the motion “is not solely a vote of confidence in President von der Leyen; it is about the entire College of Commissioner’s stays in office”.
“What is clear is that a majority vote in favour of censuring the entire commission would result in the collapse of the Union’s leadership, President von der Leyen and the other 26 commissioners, at a critical moment.”
Mr Cowen said that the motion would remove the entire commission, “including those finalising important work such as Trade Commissioner Šefčovič on the EU-US and EU-UK trade deals, Agriculture Commissioner Hansen on the next Common Agricultural Policy and, indeed, Commissioner Michael McGrath”.
“If this were a targeted motion against von der Leyen alone, or one related directly to her handling of Gaza, I may well have voted differently – but that is not the case.”
