Censure
- The EU Parliament can censure the EU Commission by a vote of no confidence (Photo: European Parliament)
The European Parliament can censure the EU Commission by a vote of no confidence.
This requires a two-thirds majority of votes and an absolute majority of members - 393 out of 785 - which may be changed to 376 out of 751 votes by the Lisbon Treaty.
Notes
- A motion of censure has never had a majority.
- This is also known as “the nuclear option” because the European Parliament can get rid of an EU Commission, but has no right to appoint a new one.
- On 15 March 1999, the Santer EU Commission resigned on its own initiative - not through an adopted motion of censure.
- Under the Treaty of Nice, the Commission President can sack a single member with the support of the majority in the Commission.
- In May 2004 a motion of censure over the Eurostat-affair received 88 votes in favour, 63 were undecided and 515 voted against the motion.
The future
The European Parliament can only sack the whole Commission and is arguing for the right to be able to sack individual commissioners. This will not be changed by the Lisbon Treaty.
