EU chief Ursula von der Leyen faces a fresh grilling and twin no-confidence votes next week in the European Parliament, less than three months after surviving a similar challenge, officials said on Wednesday.

Both new censure motions are likely to fail but they offer new evidence of tensions over von der Leyen's leadership and her recent tariff deal with US President Donald Trump – vehemently opposed by many EU lawmakers.

The list of grievances against the centre-right European Commission president is long and growing.

Critics complain about her centralised leadership style and lack of transparency at the EU executive, and there is rising friction even among her backers over the handling of key issues.

Both the centre and left of parliament have accused von der Leyen of cosying up to the far-right to push through contested measures, most notably to roll back environmental rules.

But she comfortably saw off the no-confidence vote in July launched by the far-right over her handling of Covid vaccine contracts.

Now the hard left and far right have put forward two censure motions that will be debated on Monday before a vote on Thursday.

The timetable was agreed on Wednesday by the heads of the parliament groups.

The opposition will use the debate to attack von der Leyen's tariff deal, which even some of her supporters now criticise.

"The divisions are extremely deep, perhaps like never before," a commission source said, adding that the motions are causing strains in the EU executive.

"It costs political capital, it costs time. It's a distraction," the source said. (AFP)