Maltese conservative Roberta Metsola, re-elected as head of the European Parliament

The tenth term of the European Parliament, which will run until the summer of 2029, opened on Tuesday in the Strasbourg hemicycle (France) with 720 new MEPs and a solemn performance of the European Union anthem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. “The first session of the European Parliament since the European elections is now open,” declared the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, shortly after 10:00 local time.

The vast majority of MEPs stood up for the playing of the anthem by a string quartet, although some sections of the chamber, including the far-right Patriots for Europe and Europe of Sovereign Nations, remained seated.

Hours later, after the initial celebrations, the Maltese conservative was re-elected as the visible head of the European Parliament with 562 votes out of the 623 valid votes cast. A position she will hold until 2027 and for which she had no real rival, except symbolically: the former Spanish Minister of Equality and Podemos MEP Irene Montero, who received 61 votes.

In her speech as a candidate for the Maltese parliament, she said that European citizens need a “strong” parliament and promised to “work tirelessly” to “bring people together”. “This must be a strong parliament, in a strong Union. That is what the treaties want us to be and that is what people need us to be. We cannot accept that our role as parliamentarians is diluted,” she told the House. In her speech, she also recalled her predecessor in office, the late Italian socialist David Sassoli, who she said put “the dignity of people before everything else,” and promised to continue in the line of his work and “redouble efforts to bring people together.”

The Maltese conservative said her “passion for the European project has not waned” and that she wants to “bridge the gaps that people have with regard to Europe”. “We have started, but we are not finished yet. We need to strengthen and streamline our operations to ensure that this Parliament can be the legislative and political powerhouse we want it to be,” she said.

“We must be able to say when proposals go too far or not, when they are too costly or impossible to implement,” he said. He said that this institution must be “a parliament of debate” and “a house of respect.”

She also stressed that Parliament will be in the spotlight to be the “firm defender that Ukraine needs” and to “raise its voice in the Middle East as well.” “I will never hesitate when it comes to making difficult decisions. My doors will always be open, and my deputies will always be treated with dignity,” she stressed. And she concluded: “If they decide to trust me, I will not let them down.” In the end, she was the one chosen over Montero, as was already known from the agreements between the majority blocs.

Data and the agenda

The first plenary session of the legislative period will run until Thursday afternoon and will have among its main tasks the election of the new Bureau of the European Parliament, including the new president, and also the vote on whether to confirm Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission for another legislative period.

In this tenth legislative period, more than half of MEPs (54%) are serving for the first time, according to statistics released today by the European Parliament. In terms of gender, the hemicycle is far from equal, with 39% women, a slight decline compared to the previous legislature (when they were almost 40%). The average age of MEPs is 50, with a range from 77 for the oldest to 23 for the youngest.