The European Parliament has given the starting signal this Tuesday to its tenth legislatureafter the elections of 9-J, with the re-election of the popular Maltese Roberta Metsola (45 years old) as its president for a second term of two and a half years. Metsola has decisively defeated her only rival, the Podemos MEP Irene Monterowho was running as a candidate for the radical left group. Metsola received 562 of the 623 votes cast (90% of the total, the highest voter turnout in history), while Montero received 61 votes.
The overwhelming result of the vote (which was secret) attests to the enormous popularity that Metsola has garnered in just two and a half years of mandatewhich have also been particularly turbulent, marked by the war in Ukraine and the Qatargate corruption scandal. MEPs from all political parties recognise their ability to build bridges and generate consensus at a time when political polarisation is spreading across Europe.
In her speech announcing her candidacy, the Maltese has assured that in her second term she will not shy away from difficult decisions and that she will never let down MEPs. “This must be a House that is not afraid to lead or to change. We have started, but we are not yet finished. We must strengthen and simplify our operations to ensure that this Parliament is the one we want it to be.” center of political and legislative power that we desire“, said the Maltese.
[Von der Leyen se enfrenta a su examen final en la Eurocámara: ¿logrará los votos que necesita?]
In this regard, one of the priorities of his second term will be to reclaim the right of legislative initiative, which is currently only held by the Commission, as well as to strengthen the powers of scrutiny and control of the European Parliament over the other Community institutions.This must be a strong Parliament in a strong Union“We cannot accept that our role as parliamentarians be diluted,” said Metsola.
For its part, Montero presented his candidacy in a purely testimonial mannerknowing in advance that she had no chance. In the end she won 15 more votes than the 46 that the radical left group has. In her five-minute speech before the plenary, the Podemos MEP stated that her programme was “to defend a Europe of peace, which is committed to ending the genocide against the Palestinian people, a feminist, anti-racist, anti-fascist Europe of rights and social justice.”
Irene Montero, during the presentation of her candidacy to preside over the European Parliament this Tuesday in Strasbourg
“A great war consensus is being imposed on the peoples of Europe“Just as 15 years ago a grand coalition of austerity was imposed on us, the consequences of which we have not recovered from,” Montero denounced.
Married and with four children, Roberta Metsola, who belongs to the European People’s Party family, was elected in January 2022 to succeed the Italian socialist David Sassoli, who had just passed away. She was then the youngest president in the history of the European Parliament and the third woman to lead the institution after Simone Veil (1979-1982) and Nicole Fontaine (1999-2002).
At that time, her candidacy generated many reservations because she was an unknown with little experience and above all because of her anti-abortion stance: Until 2023, abortion was completely banned in Malta (one of the smallest EU countries, with just 530,000 inhabitants) in all circumstances. But her dynamism in vigorously representing the European Parliament in all forums has convinced many sceptics.
Metsola was the first EU leader to visit kyiv after the outbreak of the war of aggression in Vladimir Putin. This was in April 2022, when no Western leader had yet dared to travel to the Ukrainian capital, which was subject to frequent bombing by Moscow and where security was by no means guaranteed.
Marked by Qatargate
The second major test for the President of the European Parliament was the Qatargate scandal breaks out in December 2022, the bribery network allegedly orchestrated by Qatar (and also Morocco) in the European Parliament to buy influence. Metsola had to rush back from Malta for a weekend to accompanying the police in the search of the MEP’s home socialist Marc Tarabella.
In response to Qatargate, Metsola has launched a wide-ranging package of measures aimed at strengthening the transparency and ethical rules of the European Parliament. However, NGOs specialising in this area believe that His reforms have fallen short in protecting Parliament against corruption.
A doctor of law from the University of Malta and a graduate of the College of Bruges, the Maltese has spent most of her career in the Brussels bubble. She worked between 2004 and 2012 at the Permanent Representation of Malta to the European Unionwhere he headed the justice and home affairs unit.
She was later legal advisor to the British Catherine Ashtonthe first female High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. She has been a member of the European Parliament since 2013 and before taking office she worked mainly in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.
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