Roberta Metsola re-elected President of the EU Parliament

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT - As widely expected, the popular Maltese Roberta Metsola was re-elected today, Tuesday 16 July, to the presidency of the European Parliament. The secret ballot took place here in Strasbourg with 562 votes in favour, out of a total of 699 voters. Metsola, 45, was elected thanks to the votes of the Popular, Socialists and Liberals, but also attracted votes from the Greens, Conservatives and the radical left around her.

"I want to create a bridge between what people expect from the European Union and what we can offer them," Metsola told the chamber, calling for a vote of the 720 MPs. "I will want to strengthen the legislative role of Parliament, in particular by addressing the continuing institutional imbalances." The reference is to the fact that the parliamentary assembly continues to have no right of initiative, unlike any national parliament.

President since January 2022, Roberta Metsola, married to a Finnish citizen and mother of four children, has made a name for herself on the European scene, despite the fact that some of her ideas are not always in line with the majority views in the hemicycle.

Although progressive when it comes to civil rights, the Speaker of Parliament - who beat Spanish rival Irene Montero (radical left) - comes from a country where abortion is banned. She herself is against the voluntary termination of pregnancy.

Nevertheless, Metsola managed to make herself well liked, even by the more radical and less centrist political factions in Parliament. Young, smiling, pragmatic, she always ensured that she would support the position of the hemicycle with respect to her ideas. She was the first to go to Kiev at the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She was also the first to travel to Israel in the wake of the Hamas attack on the Jewish state last October.