Roberta Metsola submits EPP candidature for European Parliament president

Roberta Metsola faces EPP vote on Wednesday to determine who will be the group’s candidate for president of the European Parliament

Roberta Metsola is currently the first Vice President of the European Parliament and is bidding to become the European People's Party's candidate for EP president
Roberta Metsola is currently the first Vice President of the European Parliament and is bidding to become the European People's Party's candidate for EP president

Roberta Metsola has formally submitted her candidature to be the European People’s Party candidate for president of the European Parliament.

She will be bidding for the EPP’s nomination along with Austrian MEP Othmar Karas and Dutch MEP Esther de Lange.

Nominations for the internal contest closed on Monday. The three-way race will be decided on Wednesday by EPP delegates and the winner will be pushed by the party for the presidency of the parliament.

Metsola said on social media that she is “honoured” to be a nominee to become the EPP group candidate for European Parliament president.

“The second half of this legislature will be crucial for the future of the parliament and of our European project - and I am ready to play my part in that process,” Metsola said.

She was congratulated by PN leader Bernard Grech and fellow Maltese MEP David Casa, who has stepped down from his role as Quaestor in the European Parliament to give Metsola a better chance to succeed.

Metsola, 42, was first elected a member of the European Parliament for the Nationalist Party in a casual election in 2013. She was subsequently elected on her own steam in 2014 and 2019.

She currently holds the post of first vice president of the EP and sits on the committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs. Metsola was more recently the rapporteur on anti-SLAPP legislative initiative being considered by the parliament.

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