Metsola: “It will not be an easy legislature, many voted to destroy”

Brussels – The need to keep in mind that “democracy cannot be taken for granted,” the need to keep the point, that the European Union is a unique achievement to be preserved, and the ability to respond to those who want to call it all into question: Roberta Metsola, outgoing President of the European Parliament and ready for a second term, warns that what is opening is probably one of the most delicate pages in the history of integration. “This Parliament will be very different from the previous one. Many people were voted to destroy” what has been done so far, she warns while speaking at the Economic and Social Committee (EESC) meeting in plenary session proceedings.

The reference is to the new parliament composition that came out of the ballot box. During the previous legislature, openly eurosceptic MEPs could be counted in the ID group, which had 76 members. Then, there were a few non-attached members and some Conservative group members (ECR). Now, things changed: a new group,  Patriots for Europe, was formed. It is the third-largest political group, with 84 members. A formation grouping extreme right-wing eurosceptic forces, against which pro-European forces have decided to start a cordon sanitaire. Which will have to be expanded.

Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN), an even more right-wing group with 25 MEPs, has joined the Patriots. Like the Patriots for Europe, Europe of Sovereign Nations is another group not present in the Parliament that remained in office until a month ago. This is the Parliament Metsola is talking about, which is different from the previous one, with 112 seats in the hands of personalities against which the institution’s President is asking to work from now on.

“It will not be an easy mandate,” she acknowledges before the audience at EESC. This does not reference the ongoing crises, which continue anyway: the Russian-Ukrainian war, the conflict in the Middle East, and trade tensions with China. There are basic needs to be addressed. “The pro-European majority may hold, but we need collective responses on security, growth, policies against high housing costs,” she stresses.”If we fail to respond to these challenges, citizens will be tempted to turn to extremists.”

This is where the popular-socialist-liberal alliance will need to know it can work. From Metsola comes a call for political responsibility for the good of all. She stresses, “If one thing unites us all, it is the transformative effect of membership in the European Union.” Responding with concrete measures to those who would like to take steps backwards is, therefore, a necessity for the new legislature: “There are many challenges before us.” One of them, the one that worries Metsola, is the one that inhabits the European Parliament.