The European Commission's new president, Jean-Claude Juncker, comfortably has survived a no-confidence vote brought over news that Luxembourg had lured multinational businesses with super low tax rates during his period as prime minister.
The censure motion in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, was resoundingly defeated by 461 votes to 101.
However, the vote was hardly an auspicious start for Mr Juncker, under fire in his first month in office both over his role when Luxembourg leader and over a potential conflict of interest as head of a Commission examining tax avoidance.
The censure motion, brought by far-right and anti-EU parties, said Mr Juncker bore responsibility for Luxembourg’s tax policies as its long-serving prime minister.
The motion said a person who had been responsible for aggressive tax avoidance policies should not head the executive EU Commission, which upholds the laws of the 28-nation bloc.
The Commission is now investigating several tax schemes offered by Luxembourg to global companies to see whether they broke European Union laws on state aid. Ireland and the Netherlands are also under investigation.
Mr Juncker has said competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager will conduct the investigation and that he will not discuss the case with her to avoid being seen as trying to influence the outcome, which would harm his authority.
Mr Juncker has billed his new Commission as “Europe’s last chance” to show citizens the EU can act in their interests.
However, a near-record unemployment rate of 11.5 per cent and an economy that has barely grown in seven years have left many EU citizens disillusioned, leading to large victories by Eurosceptic parties in May’s European Parliament election.
The enlarged Eurosceptic alliance is now easily able to pass the threshold of 10 per cent of the 751-seat chamber to put a motion on the agenda. Thursday’s censure motion would have required two-thirds of votes cast to dismiss the Commission.
It means Mr Juncker’s five-year term could prove a choppy one, punctuated by potentially embarrassing no-confidence motions.
Steven Woolfe, a lawmaker for the anti-EU United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) in the European Parliament, said his party would keep up the pressure on Mr Juncker.
“The European Parliament has voted to protect the scandal-soaked Commission president rather than to protect their own people,” he said in a statement. “But the scandal of what Mr Juncker did as the friend of big business will not go away.”
Reuters
