MEPs have broadly supported the re-election of Maltese MEP Roberta Metsola as president of the European Parliament.
Some 562 deputies backed her and Metsola’s new term will run until 2027.
She was one of two candidates and received an absolute majority of votes cast out of 699 by secret paper ballot. The MEP will continue to lead Parliament for the first two and a half years of the 10th legislative term.
Metsola says she wants people to “recapture a sense of belief and enthusiasm for our project, to make our shared space safer, fairer, more just and more equal and belief that ours is a Europe for all.”
“Polarisation in societies,” she said, “has led to more confrontational politics, even political violence caused by easy answers that divide our communities into “us” and “them”. We need to move beyond this zero-sum thinking that has excluded people that turns people away and foments anger and hate rather than builds hope and belief.”
“We understand that the comfort of such easy politics offers no real solutions. We will leave Europe a better place if we finally manage to implement proper migration and asylum legislation.”
She said, “That includes necessary border management, with a returns policy and above all, that is human centric. That ensures that no other mother is given a choice but to put her child into a rickety boat in the hands of criminal trafficking networks. That guarantees that Europe is able to live up to its historic and proud legacy.”
ECR members were among those who voted in favour of Metsola with its co leader Nicola Procaccini explaining why.
He said: “Roberta Metsola has proven her commitment to dialogue and openness to balance and compromise, even when there are strong differences of opinion. She is able to build bridges and find common ground across political camps.”
His colleague, Joachim Brudzinski, added: “Metsola has many of the qualities a parliamentary president needs: She is pragmatic and consensus-oriented. Her commitment to Ukraine is also remarkable. These points form the basis of our support for her re-election.”
