The motion, backed by 76 MEPs, including the UK Independence Party and the National Front in France, is unlikely to succeed.  It alleges Mr Juncker is unfit to hold office because of what it calls aggressive tax avoidance schemes in Luxembourg while he was PM there.

If the motion, which also has the support of the Five Star movement in Italy, did succeed, the Commission would have to resign.

It argues that EU member states have lost billions of euros of potential tax revenues because of tax avoidance schemes implemented in Luxembourg during the 18 years Mr Juncker was prime minister there.  Actually the US has lost a lot more money because of deals of which Juncker at the very least was knowledgeable.s.

UKIP MEP Steven Woolfe said: “This motion of censure means there must now be a debate on the behaviour of President Juncker and a vote to remove the entire European Commission.

Liberal Democrat MEP Catherine Bearder criticised UKIP leader Nigel Farage for joining the National Front, led by Marine Le Pen, in backing the motion.

Instead of this opportunist grandstanding, the EU needs a proper independent investigation into the allegations against Juncker and his possible involvement in tax evasion.”

Mr Juncker, who took over as head of the EU’s executive body at the start of November, has come under pressure over claims that some 340 global companies were granted deals to help them avoid tax during his 18 years in office, which ended last year.

Mr Juncker was Luxembourg’s finance minister before becoming its head of government in 1995. He has insisted all tax settlements reached under his leadership complied with national laws and international rules.

Speaking in Brussels last Wednesday, Mr Juncker said there was “nothing in my past indicating that my ambition was to organise tax evasion in Europe”