Brussels A woman is once again at the head of the European Parliament: MEPs in Strasbourg elected Roberta Metsola on Tuesday in the first ballot with 458 of 616 valid votes cast. The Christian Democrat Maltese (EPP) is the third woman to hold the prestigious office and follows Italy’s David Sassoli, who died last week. The post had gone to men 31 times so far.
At the same time, the mother of four is the youngest President of the European Parliament of all time: Metsola will be celebrating her 43rd birthday on election day. What is also special about Metsola’s election is that it is usually politicians from the major EU countries who hold the office. Malta, on the other hand, is the smallest member of the group of states.
Metsola is married to a Finn and is considered a real “Bruxelloise”. After studying law in Malta, where she also received her doctorate, she studied at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, which is considered a talent pool for top administrative jobs in the EU institutions. She then worked in Brussels, including for the Maltese representation to the EU. In April 2013, the conservative politician finally moved into the EU Parliament. She replaced another Maltese MP.
The lawyer is considered to be very goal-oriented, persistent and determined, but also sociable, cheerful and charming. There are stories about dinner parties she likes to throw at her home in the Ixelles district of Brussels. Due to her many years in Brussels, she is considered to be deeply networked there with an unerring instinct for the dynamics of the political bubble.
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Nevertheless, there are many who see Metsola critically at the highest post in the European Parliament. Many MEPs share the view that after more than 20 years there should be a woman at the head of Parliament again.
Strong opponent of abortion
However, Metsola is also a staunch opponent of abortion. Malta is the only country in the EU where abortion is still completely banned. As an MEP, Metsola had voted several times against making it easier for women to have access to abortions. Admittedly, these were only resolutions of a symbolic character – the EU countries alone decide on the abortion laws. Nevertheless, according to women’s rights activists, Metsola is a fatal choice for the head of the EU parliament.
The Greens therefore put up the Swede Alice Bah Kuhnke as an opposing candidate. “We Greens stand for a feminist, sustainable and democratic European Union and call on all MEPs to support these principles,” Kuhnke said in the course of her candidacy – a tip in the direction of Metsola. The left sent the Spaniard Sira Rego into the running, the right-wing conservative group European Conservatives and Reformers, EKR for short, the Pole Kosma Zlotowski.
The fact that the EPP sent Metsola into the race at all was due to the fact that the group leader, Manfred Weber, had given up his candidacy, which he had actually planned for years, in order to become leader of the European conservative party family. The CSU politician actually wanted to become EU Commission President in 2019 and was therefore nominated as the EPP’s top candidate in the European elections. His plan failed: Weber was unable to organize a majority in either the EU Parliament or the European Council – the office of Commissioner went to Union colleague Ursula von der Leyen.
Ambitions for the Commission Presidency
Instead, Weber should become EU Parliament President in the second half of the legislative period. This is how the European heads of state and government negotiated it in their personal poker game for the EU’s top jobs. It is a tradition for the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats to share the office of Speaker of Parliament: the first two and a half years, a Social Democrat is the head of the house, in the second half a Christian Democrat takes over.
EU politicians commemorate David Sassoli
But this time the Social Democrats did not want to simply accept the deal. The reasoning: apart from the European Council, whose president, Charles Michel, is a liberal, all EU institutions are headed by Christian Democrats.
Metsola’s predecessor, David Sassoli, who died unexpectedly last week, therefore planned to run against the EPP candidate. But for health reasons, the Italian social democrat gave up his plan at the end of last year.
Since Sassoli’s death, Metsola has acted as first vice president of parliament. She is said to have great ambitions: at some point she wants to head the EU Commission herself. With the two-and-a-half-year parliamentary presidency, she could lay the foundation for bringing herself into play as a suitable candidate in the future.
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