Maltese MEP Roberta Metsola has been elected (EPP) as president of the European Parliament. She is the first MEP from Malta and the third woman in history to hold this position. The election took place just over a week after the passing of her predecessor David Sassoli.
Metsola was elected with a large majority in the first round and will serve as president for the second half of this parliamentary term. The 43-year-old Metsola has been a member of the European Parliament since 2013 for the right-wing Maltese Nationalist Party. In November 2020, she was elected as first vice-president and served as acting president of the Parliament after the death of President Sassoli on January 11 this year.
Metsola is the third female president of the European Parliament in history, after the French Simone Veil (1979-1982) and Nicole Fontaine (1999-2002). The term of a parliamentary president, who is elected by the members of parliament, is 2.5 years.
The new European Parliament president quoted former German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. "He said: European unity was the dream of a few. It has become the hope of many. Today it is a necessity for all of us." Metsola also belongs to the Christian Democratic European People's Party (EPP), which is one of the groups in the European Parliament.
There were several candidates for the presidency. Metsola was elected president in the first round of voting with a large majority. The next president will be elected after the European elections in 2024.