Von der Leyen faces crunch vote in European Parliament that could see her returned to Commission presidency

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen faces crunch vote in European Parliament that could see her returned to Commission presidency. Picture: Virginia Mayo/AP

Ursula von der Leyen was a mostly unknown figure across the EU when she was picked out to be the next European Commission president five years ago.

She was not the first pick of the European People’s Party in 2019 when she first came into the position, with the grouping initially seeking to nominate EPP leader Manfred Weber.

But, she emerged as the nominee at a meeting of top EU leaders, taking on the role by a narrow nine votes at the European Parliament shortly after.

Her early term was marked by the covid-19 pandemic, which saw infighting in Europe about border control due to the Schengen Agreement.

This later led to controversy over the sale of vaccines to European Union countries, where it was reported that Ms von der Leyen had exchanged direct texts with the chief executive of Pfizer Albery Bourla ahead of EU contracts being signed with the company.

The General Court of the European Union ruled on Wednesday that Ms von der Leyen had not been sufficiently transparent with the contracts, due to redactions before they were formally published.

It's not good timing for Ms von der Leyen, as she faces a crunch vote in the European Parliament on Thursday that could see her returned to the Commission Presidency, or shunted off the stage, leaving the EU in stasis with no backup plan.

The vaccine contract issue did not resonate strongly with the public in Ireland, with Ms von der Leyen instead facing much stronger criticism here for her approach to the war waged by Israel in Gaza.

In particular, her visit to Israel in the days following the October 7 attacks was fiercely criticised.

She expressed the EU’s unreserved solidarity with Israel, while also saying that their response would “show that it is a democracy”.

The initial response did not, however, call on Israel to respect international law in how it responded to Hamas in Gaza.

This failure led to condemnation across the country, with President Michael D Higgins accusing Ms von der Leyen of not “speaking for Ireland”.

"What one is seeing in this is a thoughtless and even reckless set of actions and I don’t think it’s helpful,” he said in the wake of her comments.

Then-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also took her up on her comments, telling Ms von der Leyen that he believed she “lacked balance” on the situation.

These criticisms have followed her since, with most Irish MEPs pushing back and pledging not to vote for her.

This included the four Fianna Fáil MEPs, who during the campaign made clear their intentions to vote against Ms von der Leyen, despite representations from senior figures in the party, including Tánaiste Micheál Martin.

Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher criticised Ms von der Leyen strongly for her support of Israel, saying that it has stopped the EU from being seen as an “honest broker” in the Middle East.

She has been defended by Fine Gael, however, with Taoiseach Simon Harris pushing back on criticism of Ms von der Leyen.

In particular, he has highlighted the increased funding to UNRWA, while still admitting that she has “not got everything right”.

The Commission President will hope that backdoor deals with other parliament groupings might push her over the line, as many Irish MEPs stand against her.

The fate of Ms von der Leyen will be sealed tomorrow, as MEPs vote on her future.