It is still Roberta Metsola’s turn. Maltese MEP re-elected President of the European Parliament

from the Stasbourg correspondent – Roberta Metsola is grinding out record after record in the European Parliament. After becoming the youngest President in the history of the EU institution in January 2022, the Maltese MEP has equaled German Social Democrat Martin Schulz (2012-2017) in managing to preside over the European Parliament for more than one term. The outgoing President and candidate of the European People’s Party (EPP) was re-elected today (July 16) to the EU institution‘s top post at the inaugural session with 562 votes in support out of 623 validly cast, overtaking in the first round the only challenger candidate for the Left Group, Spain’s Irene Montero (Podemos) who won 61 votes.

“Citizens look to this hemicycle as a symbol of democratic standards, of opportunity, of reconciliation,” Metsola began in her keynote address before the vote of the 720 MEPs, immediately reconnecting with her predecessor’s past, present, and future legacy: “Two-and-a-half years ago I was here after David Sassoli’s passing, I promised I would honor his memory, and today I renew that promise.” The European Parliament number one, re-elected for another two and a half years — the decision on the relay with the Social Democrats will be in January 2026 — spoke of “strong leadership to push the legislation that citizens demand of us” and promised to work “tirelessly” and never back down “from making tough decisions.” The mandate begins with the goal of maintaining “a strong Parliament in a strong Union” and as “a place of debate and respect,” building on what he did during his first term: “As president, you know that I am capable of both defending our Parliament and building bridges across political divides.”

Who is Roberta Metsola

Born on January 18, 1979, in St. Julian’s and raised in Gżira, Roberta Tedesco Triccas is a Maltese lawyer specializing in European law and policy. She graduated from the University of Malta and the College of Europe in Bruges. On October 1, 2005, she married Finnish Ukko Metsola, taking his last name. They are parents of four children, and both ran unsuccessfully for the 2009 European elections.

From a young age, Metsola participated in the political life of the Maltese Nationalist Party (center-right), first as a member of the party’s youth formation and then as secretary-general of the European Democratic Students (EDS), the student section of the EPP. As a result of this commitment, at the age of 23, she was elected vice-chair of the Youth Convention on the Future of Europe, later participating drafting the treaty establishing a constitution for Europe and the Lisbon Treaty. At the national level, Metsola ran for the EU Parliament elections in 2004 and 2009 among the ranks of the Nationalist Party, failing her goal in both rounds of elections. She then served as legal and judicial cooperation officer at Malta’s Permanent Representation to the European Union and legal adviser to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, between 2012 and 2013.

Her appointment with Destiny as an MEP came on April 24, 2013, with the by-election of the seat left vacant by Simon Busuttil, leader of the Metsola’s nationalist party and that year elected to the Maltese Parliament. After a second term as the Nationalist Party’s leading candidate in the 2014 European elections, she served on the EU Parliament’s Special Inquiry Committee on Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Evasion (PANA), which investigated the findings of the Panama Papers (the international investigation into more than 200 thousand offshore companies). On the topic of fighting corruption, for years, Metsola has been advancing the memory of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a Maltese journalist murdered in 2017 for her investigations into money laundering at high state levels.

On November 12, 2020, she became First Vice President of the European Parliament, succeeding Irish Mairead McGuinness, who in turn was appointed European Commissioner for Financial Services in the von der Leyen Commission to replace the resigning Phil Hogan. Metsola was the first Maltese MEP to hold this position before the more important election as President of the EU Parliament. She officially announced her candidacy at the end of November 2021, opening the race to succeed President David Sassoli at the mid-term of the legislature. For exactly one week, she led the EU institution on an interim basis due to Sassoli’s death before becoming the youngest President of the European Parliament on January 18, 2022, on her 43rd birthday.

Just over a month after her election, Metsola has become one of the most stable and unimpeachable reference points of EU support for Russia-invaded Ukraine. Exactly one week after the start of the war, she convened an extraordinary session of the EU Parliament in Brussels, bringing for the first time in video-link Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenski and confirming to him the institutional whatever it takes on Kyiv’s accession to the Union. In April, Metsola surprised the Twenty-seven with a journey to Kyiv under siege  -the first among all EU institution leaders – to bring Brussels’ message of closeness and commitment. As President of the European Parliament, she also had to lead the institution through one of the most stormy moments in its history, when the ‘Qatargate’ investigation’ about the corruption of some members and former members broke out. After the success of the European People’s Party in the June 6-9 elections, the EPP confirmed Metsola as its choice for a second term, which became reality at the inaugural session of the 10th term of the EU Parliament.