The most powerful EU official faces a challenge to her authority, if not her hold on office, thanks to a censure motion. Center-left EU lawmakers seized the moment to slam cooperation with the far right.

A vote on Thursday is set to fail, but von der Leyen’s Liberal and Socialist allies that endorsed her second term at the head of the EU executive rounded on her governing record, criticising her European People’s Party (EPP) for voting with the far right to pass legislation.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen defended her record on Monday as the European Union's executive body faced a censure motion proposed by a group of mainly far-right lawmakers in the European Parliament.